Trust a Jacked Chef: Chopped Winner on Hard Work, Fitness, and Leveling Up | S3, Ep 19. - The Big Dawgs: with Manning Sumner

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Listen, I respect that. He's like, but whatever you do
get out of Miami, that food scene's never going to happen.
And on the phone I said I'm going to make it.
Happen. Yeah, you worked under some of
the best chefs in Miami and spent three years as executive
chef at 660. Then in 2011, you became the
first ever Miami contestant to win on Chop.
You made such an impression thatone of the famous chef judges

(00:20):
offered you a job in New York and instead you came back to
Miami and launched the eating house as a pop up.
I've worked in two restaurants my whole life.
This is not a challenge like this is boring.
I don't I love this. And I'm like doing the math.
I'm like, dude, I'm like, I'm the first one that's going to
win on TV. We got to do something.
I took my partner Alex, my buddies, a manager at the
Clevelander. I am at the Anglers health

(00:42):
insurance, paid leave, 401K thatworks.
And I'm like, dude, let's quit our job.
Let's open a restaurant. We're just like we quit, put our
notice in, let's figure out our lives then, you know, like high
risk, high reward. And we just opened eating house
in 2012 as a pop up six months of madness lines.
It was crazy. I've been my own boss since I
was 26 years old. When you say finding health,
talk about that. I didn't care about what I put

(01:03):
in my body. It was just, you know, not good,
like not good. I didn't care.
I ate whatever and I just like kind of lost myself.
I don't want to be an influencer, but I would love to
influence you to make yourself better.
I want to raise awareness for health in the restaurant
community and in my industry. And it's like, if you give so
much time to your business, like, why not give that time to

(01:23):
yourself? Because you've never done coke
Ponzi, right? Not really.
Not yo. We did it, See.
No. Now I got to do it again.
I'm Manning Sumner. I've lived my life by 1 motto No
days off. No days off has never taken a
day off on you. It's a commitment to becoming
your best self. Get ready to be inspired to do
the same. This is the big dogs with

(01:45):
Manning Sumner. Well, Giorgio, thank you so much
for being. Of course, give the people a
little bit of background on you and then dive in.
All right. For sure.
You were born and raised in Miami, FL.
Yep. To an Italian mother and an
Argentinian father. From early on, it seemed like
you were destined to be a chef. That's right.
Even as a toddler, you spent hours watching cooking shows.

(02:06):
Yes, that love for cooking really blossomed at age 5, when
you and your mom would spend Sundays in the kitchen making
her pomodoro sauce. Pomodoro.
Pomodoro sauce The meals became more elaborate and roles
reversed between and student, but tradition carried on.
I love that. After high school, you enrolled
in the Culinary Arts program at Johnson and Wells University,

(02:26):
where you maintained a nearly perfect GPA and we're repeatedly
on the Dean's list. But just one semester before
graduation, you made the decision to drop out and go full
force into the restaurant industry.
You worked under some of the best chefs in Miami and spent
three years as Executive Chef at660 at the Anglers on Miami
Beach. You've been repeated guests at

(02:47):
Slow Slow Foods Terra Madre in Italy, a flagship international
gathering and festival celebrating sustainable food,
where you worked alongside worldrenowned chefs and experienced
that change your life and your understanding of food.
Then in 2011, you became the first ever Miami contestant to
win on Chopped. You made such an impression that

(03:08):
one of the famous chef judges offered you a job in New York,
but instead you came back to Miami and launched Eating House
as a pop up which quickly becameone of the most talked about
restaurants in the city. Since you have dedicated your
career to champion Miami's culinary scene and infusing your
Argentinian and Italian heritageinto the city's rich melting pot
of food and culture. In 2012, you reopened Eating

(03:29):
House as a full restaurant to tocritical acclaim.
It closed in summer of 2021 but reopened in December 2022.
And Giralda Plaza right by your sister's restaurant, Luca
Asteria, name after your son, which opened in 2021 as the
second project under your shake and bake hospitality Group.

(03:52):
A little summer 2024, you took over Mayfair Grill and Coconut
Grove, and you're also the executive executive chef at the
Grape Ape. You've been recognized by the
James Beard Foundation, an American nonprofit culinary arts
organization based in New York City, earned a spot on Forbes 30
Under 30 and received a multiplelocal and regional awards,

(04:13):
naming your restaurants among the best in Miami.
And beyond the kitchen, you're also an artist, passionate about
street art, stencils and spray paint, and you even dabble in
music. No, no, I can't wait to hear
while you're laughing, dabbling music, sampling, mixing beats
which you sometimes play at the eating house.
Bro that's a hell of a resume. That's a lot, man.
Yeah, it's awful, but congratulations on all the

(04:36):
accomplishments. Thank you.
So what is it about like, I mean, at such an early age, like
what do you think it was your mom or do you think it was you
like internally? But what was it about cooking at
a young age that you knew that that's what you wanted?
To do I think I'm like a quintessential Italian

(04:56):
household, right? Like I'm first generation
American. I had a, you know, my non and I
was like in the kitchen all the time cooking.
We would eat Sundays at the house.
My mom would cook single mother,like raised by a single mother,
still dinner on the table every single night.
So what's this kind of balance of like cooking isn't just like
nourishment and sustaining, you know, like being able to feed

(05:19):
your family, but it's also like a matter of work ethic, right?
My mom worked 9:00 to 5:00, you know, pick this up from school,
do and then still put dinner on the table every single night.
So it was like kind of a sign oflike, OK, this is what hard work
means. And I've just always loved
cooking. I think it was something I've
always, always passionate about.You know, obviously I was like,
I was a kid. I watched Boy Meets World, Saved
by the Bell, you know, whatever.But like also, I would watch

(05:41):
cooking shows all the time. And I think as the Food Network
first started and old Emerald's old shows and old Bobby Flay and
two Hot Tamales and like all these shows that I grew up
watching the, the food, I kind of grew up with the Food
Network, right? And I just, I loved cooking my
whole life and it was I was verylucky.
My mom is an incredible cook. My grandmother was an incredible

(06:02):
cook. My grandmother on my Argentine
side, fantastic cook. My dad does Parisha, so we do
asados and it's just always beenlike, maybe like the one sense
of peace in crazy household was like at the dinner table.
And food is always just so important to us.
And it's just something I've always loved.
And I think people constantly are like, when did you know you
wanted to be a chef? Like when did it click?

(06:23):
And I don't really have an answer.
It's the only thing I've ever known, never really wanted.
Like I never had dreams of beinga firefighter.
I never wanted to be a sports star.
I was like, I'm going to be a chef.
So what I'm going to do in in like high school was like,
great, sure, whatever. This is fine.
I'm going to cook. That wasn't that important to
me. Like my the only thing I ever
wanted to do was cook. It's all I ever cared about.

(06:45):
And I never like took my SA TS. I got into Johnson and Wales
because I enter like a recipe contest and I got a scholarship
to Johnson and Wales And then right we talked about like
leaving Johnson and Wales and I was just like, it was I was like
so good in school and I was like, this is not a challenge.
Like this is boring. I don't love this.
And so I just went into the realworld and it was at at the end

(07:06):
of the time I was working under really like one of my mentors,
his name was Adam Voltaugh. I was 1718 and going to school.
I would work, I would go to school 7/7 in the morning to
1:00 in the afternoon, leave school, which was up here in
North Miami, drive to the Gables, work dinner service all
night, get home at midnight, wake up at 5:36 in the morning

(07:28):
to drive to North Miami again. It was crazy.
And I would go to I'd be going, you know, I'd go to work and I'd
be like chef, I learned this on this and be like, it's great you
work for me. You know what I mean?
You do what I say, right, right.You know chef, Well, what about
he's like put your head down andwork, you know, and I was like,
OK, I'll put my head down on thework.
And I was just like, I was learning.
Everything I would learn in school was like outdated and it

(07:49):
just didn't really click for me.Yes, I understood the
fundamentals, but I had known the fundamentals because I've
been doing the fundamentals my whole life, right?
And then I was very fortunate towork.
What's pretty crazy is like, yes, it's an amazing bio, right?
Like beautifully done by the PR team.
But I've worked in other than myown.
I've worked in 2 restaurants my whole life.

(08:09):
Yeah. I never wanted to go to Europe.
I never wanted to go work under a Michelin start chef.
I never wanted to be like a robot and say like I am this
person's disciple. I just wanted to.
I learned how to run restaurantsand I developed my own style,
which I'm very fortunate for. But I learned, you know, the
concept of hard work. I learned the concept of of
managing a staff, how to run restaurants, how to you know, we

(08:31):
were at this restaurant we were at, it was called Chi Spa.
It was like this hot new Latin concept in The Gables.
It was like BCNBC knows madness.We were doing 7800 covers on a
Friday night. It was insanity.
That's insane. Insane.
Yeah. That was my.
That's your first experience? First thing, 17 years old.
Wow, Monster line cooks, right? Like beasts and a kid.
I'm 17, I'm 18 years old and I'mwith monster cooks monsters, you

(08:55):
know, like monsters. And I was like, all right, I got
to hold up. Yeah.
You know, And that's, that's allit was.
Yes, chef. No, chef.
I go in on my days off, you know, like you.
No days off, right? Like, for me, no days off,
right? Go in, work for free.
Put my head down. You got an event.
I'll do it. You want me to do this?
I'll do it. Like, how much do you pay him?
I pay him. OK.
I'll do it for less. Yeah.

(09:15):
You know that's how I made my they.
Were missing that too, like in this day and age just get like
hearing you say that it it brings back memories of me in a
different field, obviously, but the same mentality.
It was like, yeah, I was learning in school, but no, I
wanted to get as close to the strength coach as possible.
Yeah, I wanted to experience it.Like I didn't want to just read

(09:36):
about it. I didn't want to do like lab
report. No, I wanted to be in it.
I want to suffer. Yeah, exactly.
And I wanted to do it for free because I knew that eventually
it was going to pay off. Now you know, you get these 18
or 18 year old kids that are like, how much you gonna pay me?
Like, it's like, no, it doesn't.I mean, 825, yeah. 825 an hour,
yeah, sure. But I didn't even, like,
negotiate. Sure.
Whatever. Yeah, you could have told me I

(09:57):
paid 5. Great and it was my it was my
first gig and I worked there forfour years.
I eventually ended up being the chef de cuisine and running
their new location. You know, I learned everything.
I knew the insurance and outs ofthat restaurant.
I did pastry, I did fryer, I did.
I did everything. Didn't matter.
Like I could have told you what the servers did and.
That's exactly why you ended up.Where?

(10:17):
Yeah, I did that for four years.Then the restaurant closed, the
owner got into some hardship, restaurant closed, had to find
another job, went to go work at another restaurant for a couple
months to help out an old chef. Then I got a call saying, hey,
do you want to come check out this hotel?
That was the Anglers. And then that was it.

(10:38):
Yeah. And then I've been my own boss
since I was 26 years old. That's awesome.
Yeah, it's crazy. It's awesome.
It's awesome. When you when you got the call
to be like your own boss, like, what was that like?
Like what? What what did was that feeling?
Like, so I think it all had to do with Chopped, right?
Yeah. So May of 2011, I got a call
from the Food Network and they're like, hey, we're calling

(10:58):
to cast on Chopped. I'm like, sure.
Listen, my mom's dream, the FoodNetwork, right?
I was like, my mom's going to see me on the Food Network.
I'm going to do this for her. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, I'm going to do it for
my mom. I'm going to go on the show.
My goal is like, my mom's going to be able to say, like, she's
seen me on the Food Network, something that we grew up
watching together, right? It was very important to me.
I won great, beautiful. It was awesome.
Like honestly, I crushed it. It was was.

(11:19):
It a good experience. Yeah, it was great.
Like, I crushed, like, I really crushed on the show.
Yeah, which is wonderful. And then it's like, here's a,
you know, an NDA. Stay quiet for six months.
Don't tell a soul. It's like, all right, didn't say
a word. I get the call.
Like, your show's gonna air January.
And I'm like, OK, great. Mind you, I'll go back and we'll
talk about, like, the phone call.
Yeah. Yeah, so I guess whatever.

(11:40):
Anyway, let's talk about that. So three months after Chopped, I
got a phone call. It's a judge.
His name's Chris Santos. Really cool.
Like super into like hardcore tattoos, like the dude, right?
He gets to say, hey, my name's Chris.
How's your judge on Chopped? I said chef, you know, how are
you? How you been?
He's like, listen, I have an opportunity.
I have a chef position for this restaurant that I'm opening.
I'd love for you to come out. This is solely him watching me

(12:01):
for an hour on Chopped. He watched me make three dishes
and he was like, you're the dude.
Like I've never seen anybody like you on the show.
Come run my restaurants fly up to New York and the whole thing
in New York's happening. I'm at the restaurants for a
week, blah, blah, blah. You know, and just wasn't me.
Like I'm a Miami boy. New York wasn't for me.
And I said chef, you know, like I appreciate everything.
It was been, you know, amazing. I, I'm beyond honored that you

(12:22):
even think of me. But like, Miami's home, you
know? And he's like, OK, He's like,
listen, I respect that. He's like, but whatever you do
get out of Miami, that food scene's never going to happen.
And I'm on the phone and I said,I'm going to make it happen.
Yeah. Yeah.
Like, I'm in. OK, put me up to the test.
Let's make it happen. OK.
So then I'm watching Chop. I've.
I'm. Everything's happening.
Like, OK, your show's airing in January.

(12:44):
Great. And then there's like four or
five other shops from Miami thatgo before me.
Not, not so fortunate none of them win.
And then I'm like doing the math, I'm like, dude, I'm like,
I'm the first one that's going to win on TV.
Yeah, we got to do something. I, my partner Alex Casanova, my
business partner, to this day, we're roommates.
We are Shake and Bake Hospitality because him and I

(13:06):
used to DJ together and we were our DJ grew up with Shake and
Bake. Yeah.
My new DJ in our apartment. Like we were living in this
apartment complex in Miami Beachlike.
One of my best friends that I played football with with his
nickname was Shake and. Bake.
I love that. That was great.
Yeah. Like we were just like we were
in this building in North Miami,in North Beach, like older crowd
and we were like the only young ones there.

(13:26):
We'd get in so much trouble justlike with the loud music,
whatever. So we were shake and bake
anyway. So I'm like cast like my, my
buddy's a manager at the Clevelander.
I am at the Anglers, you know, health insurance, paid leave,
401K that works. And I'm like, dude, let's quit
our jobs. Let's open a restaurant.
So, all right, let's do it. So we started looking around,
like, I don't know what it takesto open a restaurant, right?

(13:47):
I'm like, OK, I have. We have a month to open a
restaurant. I think it's gonna happen.
We're looking like it's never gonna happen.
A month? Yeah, I didn't know that.
Was a little naive. Yeah, I have no idea.
No, I have no clue. And then especially in Miami.
Yeah, I had no clue. Can't even get it.
But around the time a restaurantnear this area of Fukuya, Yeah,
was like the first pop up restaurant.
Never mind. I'm like, dude, let's open a pop
up restaurant. You know Annie.

(14:08):
Yeah, so like they were the first ones.
Fukia, like everyone's like eating house Miami's first
problem. Like no, Fukia was the first pop
up ever. Like I give them credit all the
time. We just were like, they were
like like in a hallway, you know, like a real like real
deal. We we were like able to create a
restaurant concept. So we find this restaurant
that's open for breakfast and lunch.
It's a bakery, like a Cuban bakery in Coral Gables.

(14:28):
And I'm like, we figure it out. Let's pay half the rent.
We use that at night. I'm like, all right, let's do
this. This show air like middle of
January eating house opened the first week of February like quit
our jobs left it all on the table.
We're just like we quit, put ournotice in, let's figure out our
lives then, you know, like high risk, high reward.
And we just opened eating house and 2012 as a pop up and it was

(14:51):
six months of just like madness was crazy, like lines.
It was just it was crazy. It was crazy.
Like every day was a different menu.
We'd just go to the we had no like purveyors.
We would just go to the grocery store, whatever worked.
Like everyone's like, you know, like our famous thing for brunch
are these Captain Crunch pancakes.
Well, those just happen to existbecause Captain Crunch was buy
one, get one free that week. You know, that's why it worked.

(15:14):
Yeah. And we just like we did whatever
we could somebody. Else does those Captain Crunch
in LA? Do they?
Yeah. Hopefully it's like Captain
Crunch French. Toast.
Yeah, I've seen that. You know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they, like, crust them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We actually, like, mill the
cereal into a flour, OK. And, like, make the entire
pancake taste like Captain. It's very, it's it's a lot of
work. Yeah.

(15:34):
And the original concept was like, we're gonna do a different
cereal every week. But it just, like stuck with
Captain Crunch 'cause they were BOGO.
And we're like, these are the move.
So it's been, you know, 10 yearsof buying.
It's crazy. Like, we have all these
incredible ingredients. And then there's like, boxes of
Captain Crunch at the restaurant.
And yeah, eating house was just like, awesome, man.
It was just a massive, it took off.
It was great. We were like everything you

(15:56):
want. But talk to me a little bit
about like, so cuz I've experienced this like where
you're the, where you're the star, right?
But now you're the, but now you're like managing other
people, like more so than probably you ever have.
Yes. So how was that transition as I
being the dude? Yeah.

(16:16):
And now you're having to be the dude but tell everybody else
what to do. Yeah, and I think I was too much
of the dude, you know? So every time I talk about this
now, I'm like to everybody that worked for me, I'm really sorry.
You know, like, thank you moments earlier.
Yeah, like, thank you. You know, like, I'm sorry, you
know, I'm not, I was not the leader I am today.
I was a kid. I was 26 years old.

(16:37):
I didn't know better. And it was.
Like the Hell's Kitchen guy. Yeah, I was a little scary, I
guess. I was like, I was just like, I
think it was like very much like, I thought it was like the
me show, you know? And I was like, there was so
much pressure on me for myself that I didn't know how to
channel it. And I, like, definitely took it
out on that. And it was like, I look back now
and I'm like, man, like, I don'twant to be that leader, you
know? My greatest accomplishment to
this day, we've been you write it right, Forbes Mag about like

(16:59):
that doesn't mean anything to me.
The fact that like, every singleone of my employees has health
insurance, that's the coolest thing in the world.
But let me ask you this though, like because I've talked to a
lot of people and I also feel the same, especially like super,
super high level people that there there is a season though,
in that beginning where you do have to kind of be that guy.
Yeah, in the beginning, yeah. Of course.

(17:20):
Now it's easy to look back and be like, damn, why did I do
like, but you don't learn. Yeah, if you don't go through it
and experience it and have like that self-awareness, self
reflection to then grow into a better version of yourself. 100%
yeah. And, you know, it's I try to
think that there must have been some silver lining because like
while I was very difficult, people with me for years, you

(17:41):
know, and people are still with me that have been have been with
me from the eating. Don't you?
And that's what I struggle with.It's like, yeah, I was a maniac,
but y'all kept following me and kept doing what I was.
Doing it must have been worth it.
You know what I mean? But I think that I think The
thing is, is that if we didn't evolve, then they wouldn't
respect. And they would have been like,
well, you're never going to change for sure.
Then they would have left 100%, those little moments with

(18:03):
clarity where you're like, OK, Ican't, yeah, speak like that.
For sure. And the thing too is like,
that's what I was raised. That's all I knew that was.
It was my life. Like working under like the
tyrant chef is all I knew. I was, you know.
And is that and talk about that a little bit because as as like
someone that watches the shows and watches these things, like
it's kind of that's what we think of when we think of the

(18:26):
kitchen in the. In the madness.
We think of just total because every single movie you want like
a bear or whatever. Right.
Is that really how it is? Some places I'm sure, yes.
I try not to lead like that anymore.
And I think through having a, a kid has really like calmed me
down. I think through finding health

(18:48):
and fitness, I've become a much better leader, a much better
person. But yeah, it's, it's it's a
tough industry. It's tense.
It's a lot and it's a lot to take in.
And when it's like the George, it's eating house, you know?
But like, no matter what, like Iam still eating house, right?
Like, people chose so much pressure and I think we did
amazing things. And like, I, I know I wouldn't

(19:09):
be anywhere without them, you know?
And I think, like, I don't know,I had this like, insane
mentality that's like, you should feel lucky to work here
because we're doing things that nobody else is doing.
But at the same time, it was like, I look back now and I
think, yeah, I probably could have handled these situations
better, been more polite, been more kind, been more respectful.
And, you know, now I like, I used to pride myself on like

(19:30):
having a restaurant that pushed boundaries and like the, like,
I, I used to pride myself on therestaurant.
Now I really pride myself on like being a leader and running
businesses. And I think the shift chat, I'm,
I'm going to be 40 in October. Like I'm not the same kid
anymore. And we worked hard.
We played hard. You know, it was the, it was
like the quintessential madness restaurant story.
And yeah, it's been, it was wild, you know, and then and

(19:53):
then I was very lucky that we got to run that restaurant
through the lease. And like, the reason we ended
that lease is because we had a new, a new version of it, you
know, which is very lucky. And, you know, I look back and I
say we're very fortunate we cameat the right time.
Like everything kind of happenedin the right place.
But I also feel like, you know, like, is it luck unless you're
ready for it, right. And we worked hard and we were

(20:15):
ready for it. And like anything that came our
way, we're like, let's do it, you know, head down and.
It's just work. During that transition of going
from the old spot to the new spot and kind of leveling up,
did you get any like push back from your like from the
nostalgia? Yeah, Oh my God.
Tons 'cause I had to deal with that.
Like we're literally people likedamn near like hated on it.

(20:36):
Like I was like, I was like, we have AC now and they're like, we
liked it when it was. Hot 100% and you're like.
What? Yeah, yeah.
Oh my God, tons. Like, oh, bring the.
I'm like, like, you don't want, you want to eat food that I used
to make when I was 27. Like, I don't want that.
Like, I don't want to cook with Doctor Pepper anymore, you know?
And yeah, we got tons of pushback.
And I was like, OK, like, I evolved.
My palates evolved and now I think we found, like a really

(20:59):
beautiful balance in between thetwo.
Yeah. But eating house was like really
wild, crazy cuisine. And like, I don't know, I don't
cook like that anymore. Like I don't want to eat like
that anymore. And yeah, we definitely got a
lot of pushback. And it was interesting because,
like some of the core regulars were like, it's not the same
anymore. But I'm also like, dude, you're
not the same anymore, right? I think you kind of have to like
like RIP the barn or. They are the same, yeah.

(21:21):
And then what does that say about?
Them I listen, that's the thing.I started to realize I'm like,
listen, the reason why you don'twant us to grow is 'cause you
don't want to. Yeah, yeah, that's the hard part
too. Like we used to saw like people
like when we first opened brunch, we used to serve Tang
mimosas in plastic cups and people like when you gonna bring
them back to. I'm like, dude, we sell, we sell
Burgundy. We have incredible like grower

(21:43):
champagne and you want a Tang mimosa, you know, And it's like,
it's hard because like those arethe things I love.
I love. I love fine wine.
I love great food. I love good cooking.
I love balance and cuisine. And it's like it's, it's kind of
hard to to to meet in the middle.
And they say, what's the balancebetween like having a sense of
like what I want to serve, what I believe in, what I love.
And like, yeah, I could maybe make the old menu and it would

(22:05):
be the same. And it would make sense business
wise. But like, I don't know if I
would stand behind that the way I used to, you know, And I think
I've just, I've just changed my palates.
I mean, I'm again, I'm I'm an adult it.
Is interesting how to talk aboutthat a little bit because I feel
like that happens. We get older our like everything
changes really like for sure your taste of music, yours

(22:26):
you're like what you wanna do onyour off time.
Like all these things, you startto mature in a different way and
I love hearing you say it about food because that's so true.
Like even like exploring new stuff, you know, when you're
older, you want to explore and you want to try new things.
And I remember, you know, when you're younger and you're like,
oh, I don't like. That yeah, I don't.

(22:47):
Exactly. The fact we used to say that is
so stupid. Like how do you know you don't
like it? Like you haven't.
Even tried it exactly. That's the thing too is like you
go through these all these phases and like now I feel like
I've done so much exploring withanyone.
I know what I want. I'm like when I want to just
have dinner, I'm like, man, justlike I, I've it's crazy to say
like I'd just be like, imagine Irun these restaurants like on my
day off, like where you'd be like, where can you eat

(23:09):
anywhere? My I'm like, dude, take me to
the Capital Grill. OK.
Alright, you know, I'm a simple man.
Yeah, I love Capital Grill. Yeah, the grill's amazing.
Yeah, right. It's.
Consistent. It's clean, it's nice.
I don't need service is nice. That's it.
You, you nailed it. Like I'm a happy man, you know,
like I love supporting my, my buddies and their businesses and
like, but like if, when it comesdown to it, I just want to like,
I want to eat something that I know I'm like all reliable,

(23:31):
right? Because like, so 6, I work six
days a week, sometimes 7. And it's like different types of
food and cooking and this sometimes I just want to just
like, man, if I could just get like prime rib service, I'd like
run a torpedo, right? Like I'd be a dream.
And yeah, it's just become this ore of simple.
And I think a lot of it had cometo like through finding health a
couple years ago. The IT it's interesting what you

(23:55):
want to put in your body, right?So when you say finding health,
talk about. That a little bit so so.
What? Take me back when when you
didn't find health. OK.
And then tell me how you. Yeah.
So I think throughout, throughout my career, I, I had
always kind of fluctuated, right?
Like I was, I was, it's interesting.
I was just on the cruise and I was talking about this like I, I
feel like before I've August 2020.

(24:16):
Well, I can tell you August 24th, 2021 was the day
everything changed. But before that, it was always
this kind of like cycle, like get ready for the summer, right?
And then you go on a family vacation and then it's like a
week or two of not eating well and not working out.
And then you're like, but then my birthday's around the corner
and then it's Thanksgiving and then it's Christmas and I'll
just pick it up again. And then it just goes away.

(24:37):
And like I had done, I had done some triathlons.
I had to run some half marathon Jim, bro, whatever, you know,
did Peloton during the pandemic.Nothing stuck.
Nothing ever stuck. Because like, I also didn't find
the time and I just I didn't want to.
I honestly just didn't want to. I didn't care.
And then when I opened Luca, we were working like crazy late

(25:00):
nights. Dinner every night was pasta.
Like it was the easiest thing, right?
And like I got to probably closeto like 225, like not a charming
225, you know, like I look back at some of the closing pictures
of the charming 2. 25 I like theway.
You framed that. How tall are you 510?
Yeah, that's. That's not charming, you know
what I mean? But like you can get there.
Yeah, sure. Like Dan, you told me I got a

(25:20):
225 South. Yeah, it was not great, man.
It was not great. I was like lazy.
I just didn't. I didn't care about what I put
in my body. It was just the, you know, not
good. Like not good.
I didn't care. I ate whatever, and I just,
like, kind of lost myself. And then I was like, OK, I'm

(25:40):
gonna like, Lucas started schooland I'm OK.
Like, I have a kid. He's three.
It was the pandemic and whatever.
Any excuse that I could make now, sure, I'll tell myself.
And I did it. And I gave myself every excuse.
And I work too late. I work too hard.
I have too many restaurants. I have a kid at home.
I have this well, blah blah blahblah, whatever.
Are these kind of the conversations you're having with
yourself? Yeah, for sure.
Excuses, You know, like when youwould wake up and you'd wanna

(26:01):
say go for a run or something. You'd start telling yourself, oh
I work so hard, I have a kid, blah blah blah.
Anything, anything. Anything to like?
Avoid it. Avoid it and justify it like
anything to justify why I didn'tdo it.
Like, oh, I have a hard day at work, you know, like it's all
excuses because I mean, I remember I opened Mayfair Grill

(26:22):
on a Friday night that Saturday morning I PR and a half
marathon, right. Like there's no excuse.
Yeah, yeah, unless you make it and you and that's fine with
like that's what you want to do in your life.
And like it's not ever going to happen till you yourself are
ready. Like people, one of my bar
managers, we had like a costume party for the closing of eating
house and it was a costume partyand he came as me and he had
like a pillow under a chef coat to be me.

(26:44):
And in my head, I'm like, I don't look like that.
Now I look back and I'm like, I definitely look like that, you
know what I mean? I just didn't see it.
You know, You don't see it when you see yourself everyday.
You don't see it. And yeah, then I put him in
school on that Monday and I saidOK, like I'm gonna go on a diet.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose. I'm gonna I, I did like keto,
you know, I said OK, I had a plate of pasta on Sunday.

(27:07):
I said OK, I won't eat another plate of this until I'm
comfortable with myself and. And that was August 24th. 2021
Yeah, man, it was, it was awesome.
That was like life changing. I basically a buddy of mine owns
a CrossFit gym, like right around the block of my house.
His name is Danny. And for four years or five
years, like I knew him, his brother, I was like, I'm gonna

(27:27):
go work out with you on Monday. I'll be there Monday.
I'll be there Monday. I'll be there Monday.
I'll be there Monday. I'll be there.
You were the Monday guy. You know what?
Yeah, right now. Now like there's.
So many Monday guys. And like why Monday, right?
Like now I'm on the why Monday. It drives me nuts.
Yeah. Why Monday?
I'll talk to him on Tuesday and they'll be like, I'll see you on
Monday. How about now?
Like I'm like, it's Tuesday, bro.
Yeah. Why Monday?
Why Monday? I know.

(27:48):
'Cause you know when they say that, you know they're.
Not yeah yeah, I would say at least my only reason for my only
reason for saying it. It was going to be on Monday
because Mondays my restaurants are closed.
So I was like that's my you know, my, my whatever, but it
didn't matter because it's an excuse.
I never went I never showed up and then I was like I'll be
there Monday. He's like all right, sure.
Yeah, right. Like you've said 100 times
Monday I showed up nice and we just did we it was man, I'd

(28:11):
remember like doing 8 LB wall balls and 16 inch box jumps so
like get training. I was like horrible.
I couldn't even keep my own and,and like I hadn't like me and
like CrossFit and I never had a good relationship because my
vision of CrossFit was hordes ofCrossfitters coming to brunch
after their Saturdays, like wads.

(28:31):
And I'm like, dude, these peopleare obnoxious, you know?
And then I found the gym that it's like, not like where I go.
It's like not really like that. It's not like the typical one.
Like Danny was like in local hardcore bands in, in the scene.
And I'd known from the scene from the music scene.
I'm like, all right, this is like the dude, you know, lots of
tattoos and hardcore and I'm like, all right, these are my
people, right? Like this is my vibe.

(28:51):
And then I gave it a shot and, and I just like loved it.
It was so cool for me to go to this.
Like my entire life is like do, do, do, do.
And then when I'm there, it's just listen like it's the other
way around, right? Like I don't have to think.
I just did what they told me to do as opposed to being the one
that has to create everything. And then through that, it was

(29:14):
like eating healthy at the same time.
And then like the weight startedto come off and I felt really
good in my skin. And through that has led me to,
you know, I ran my first full marathon in December, done
CrossFit competition. I'll do whatever, right?
Like you could be like, let's stop this now and let's go
short. Doesn't matter.
You know what, it doesn't matterto me.
Like I just like love health andfitness and like, I feel

(29:38):
incredible. Like, you know, people are like,
oh, man, like I wish I'll start again.
Like I don't hell no. Like I am in the best shape of
my life like the most success I've ever had.
And I think a lot of it has to do with this Like I don't think
without this passion for like this dedication to health and
fitness, I would be able to run 4 restaurants.

(29:58):
Like I'm cuz I'm clear minded every day right?
That's what I was just thinking in my head when you said that.
What it does is it keeps your mind sharp.
That's what people don't realize.
Whatever. The better the body, the
sharper. The mind, I love it.
It's 100% and like now my like Irun with my crew and or they
they get better because of it and and it's been awesome.

(30:19):
I'll do like again. I'll do whatever.
It doesn't matter. You could like you want to like
I things I'm dying to do right like OK, my goal next year half
Iron Man OK, I'm running the Chicago Marathon in October
eventually full Iron Man like why not like my goal.
My dream would be to one day runlike 100 mile ultra like.
Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, like Leadville would be

(30:39):
incredible, you know, like I just like love this, like shut
the mind off and hurt, you know?Like, I love that.
I loved, I love the suffering, you know, like, that's why I
just, I love like I love hurting, you know, it's great,
man. Like it's, it's awesome.
I just, I and I had never loved that, but like, it's the same
thing. And I, I tell a lot of chefs
like, my goal is to just like, Iwant to raise awareness for

(31:04):
health in the, in the restaurantcommunity and in, in my
industry. And it's like, if you give so
much time to your business, like, why not give that time to
yourself? Like create the time, make the
time, you know, And like, there's such, there's this, like
the past couple years. And I think a lot of it too,
like with the bear and all this,like mental health in the
restaurant industry. Like what about like physical
health? It will lead to mental.

(31:25):
Health. I was about to say that.
Come on man, you can't have one without the other, right?
And. The science backs it up for
sure. It's not like we're just saying
this because we're like bro science people.
No, the science actually backs it up.
It's, it's a, it's. You know, like it works.
I promise, I promise it works. I mean, I've talked to so many
people that say exactly what you're saying you.
Know it works. 2000 members and there's, there's literally

(31:49):
probably 200 people that work inthe restaurant business.
It works, you know, So, yeah. Yeah, it works.
Isn't Ivan. Yes, I've been.
I've actually Ivans been. Yeah, amazing.
Just watching his journey. I've been.
Talking all the time. And that's my boy, you know, and
Annie, and he's been through it,like, and I think that her, her
commitment to herself and fitness, regardless of her

(32:13):
struggles and injuries. And she had a hip replacement.
But even after the hip replacement, she still showed up
every day for herself, of course.
And there's something who said about that?
Yeah. Do other and like just keep the
mind sharp, Yeah, because it will keep you sharp, right.
Like man, I, we all deal with injuries, but like, I'm away for
three days and I'm already like in a cloud.
Yeah. So like finding things that you

(32:34):
can do just honestly, sometimes it's like just show up and
stretch here. No, it's, it's literally showing
up. So I think people like they make
it too complicated and they're and it's I was just my brother
and I were laughing because he asked me about this podcast and
he's like, so you're, you're shooting like every every week,
like every week. And I said, yeah, it's called
consistency. And he started laughing.

(32:54):
He goes yo, of course, like, youknow, because that's really it
in everything that we do, consistency in everything.
So it's not the intent intensityof it, it's the consistency of
it, the slow drip every single day.
Show up for yourself. That's all we're asking.
People ask me all the time, like, how are you, like, so
motivated? I'm like, I'm not motivated.
I'm dedicated. And those are two very different

(33:16):
things. Like, sure, you might need to
find motivation at first, but once it becomes dedication, you
know, And I think when I first started at the gym, my coach
Serge was like, kind of taking like, he was like, my guy at
first, right? And he told me like at first,
like the gym will disrupt your life and then not going to the
gym will disrupt her life. You know what I first said, like
the gym like it did. And then he's like, wait till

(33:36):
the day like when you're hooked and like you can't work out
right? You're freaking out.
You know what? I.
Mean like just screws up your whole day like especially from
your mind it like makes you feelweird it's.
Crazy. I've literally like had to when
I travel now, it's not just likethe work clothes, but it's the
running shoes and the gym clothes and like what, what
workout am I going to do? Like I'll plan like, OK, I'll do
this body part so that I know that like I won't do legs while

(33:58):
I travel so I can take running shoes and I won't have the sub.
Like I plan all this, of course,100%.
You know what I mean? Like, and when I was on this
cruise, like it's crazy to thinkthat I, I did a food festival at
sea called chefs making waves. And like my, I cooked dinner and
I did a like basically I did a culinary demonstration.
Great fun. I got to do gnocchi.
We did dinners like on the cruise every night that I got to

(34:19):
cook with Tom Colicchio and Jonathan Waxman, like legends.
But then my other thing, I did aone hour long panel on
nutrition. I did a run around the cruise
and I did like a fitness class. Like those were my duties on the
cruise was to like make people healthy.
That's sick. You know, that's so cool.
Like what I loved about it the last day on the run, one of the

(34:40):
guys tells me he's like, man, I just realized that you're a
chef. Like I thought you were the
fitness instructor for Norwegian.
Like you already made it. You know, it's awesome.
And to think that like that's what I get to do is like make
people better. It's amazing, right?
Like, and so it's very fun for me to or like I would just love
again, like I get so many chefs every time we put whatever PR

(35:02):
like video, they're like, dude, I got to get on.
I'm like, what do you want to do?
Let's walk. You want to talk about labor
costs? You want to talk about let's
walk, Let's let's take 10 minutes.
Let's go for a walk, dude, whatever.
It's not going to have to be a run.
You want to walk, you want to run, you want to like come
whenever. Like I will go to you like we
can live bags of flour in your kitchen.
I don't care. Like you don't have to come to
my gym. I will go to you like I doesn't

(35:23):
matter. Like if I can give you 1 ounce
of of knowledge and of inspiration and like that
betters you when there's I hate this.
I never trust a skinny chef Yeah, trust a jacked 1.
You know what I mean? I.
Like. That sure, I don't need to be
big, but I assure you I eat great.
I care about what I put in my body.
I care about what I'm putting inyour body.

(35:45):
And that's part of it too. And I've realized through making
so like I love this. It's kind of like, I don't know,
it's like weird, I guess body dysmorphic, but like earning
your earning what you get. You know what I mean?
Like I know, like all right, go out to dinner with the fam.
We're going to like I get to go out to dinner with the fam and
like we got a group dinner. We're going to go in.
It's great. Like Monday I'm doing Murph,

(36:06):
like I'm going to crush and I'm going to earn dinner and I'm
going to eat it. You know, like I never
overindulge and again, we'll we'll talk about pasta, which is
like my ultimate weakness, whichI very I don't have pasta very
often because I just like love it.
It's like my obsession. You know what I mean?
It's like. That's what I always laugh at
people that like, you know, lookat, I mean, you're a little

(36:27):
different because now you're, you're a chef, but but you know,
you're still now you're a beast.You know, you're you know,
people look at you and like, butthey look at us and they they
think that we don't like good. Food I love.
It and it's like, what are you talking about?
I love it. Like I love food.
Yeah, I love it. It's just to your point, it's
called we're just disciplined. Yeah, man, that's it.
And that's the one thing too, which got me through my hope was

(36:50):
like eggs with pesto or things with Bolognese or pomodoro, like
the flavors that I love, man. Like I would make eggplant
parmigiana, but the eggplant would be grilled, you know, with
tomato and parmigiana like a light.
But like I I never miss it. Like I never felt like I died at
a day in my life, you know, since through all this, like
everything was too delicious. Too good of a.

(37:11):
Cook it was, but like. And then the the problem is
like, I'll tell you the last plate of pasta I had December
15th after my full marathon. Wow.
Well, that was earned. Earned.
Earned for sure. And like I ate it with a serving
spoon because I wanted bigger bites.
I didn't want it was nothing. It was like the crew was in the
kitchen and they were like dude,you just ate that in like 2
minutes. Like like the female servers

(37:32):
were disgusted. Like how?
Do you feel after these marathons?
I felt great, yeah. It's just so your body's not
like beat up afterwards because I heard like horror stories.
No, no, I felt good. I wasn't beat up.
I mean I. Because you're not a small.
No, it was, I mean, yeah, I'm close to £200.
It was good. I, I trained well.
I think I should have trained more.
I'm going to train more for Chicago.

(37:53):
It was Wildman humbling experience, you know, but
amazing. Like, and what was really
interesting is like, I had no intention of ever running like
full marathons. I had never wanted to run a full
marathon ever. And again, we go back to showing
up one of my, a good friend of mine, Monica at the gym.
She she was running New York. So she's training.

(38:13):
I'm like, who you running with? She's like, no, by myself.
I'm like, dude, I'll run with you.
Whatever, a couple miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, whatever.
She's like, all right, I have torun 12 this weekend.
I'm like 12 miles. Jesus.
Like I was like, I'll run half of it with you.
Perfect. OK, I'm going to be here.
I forget to charge my phone overnight.
I wake up at like 8:30 in the morning.
I look at my phone, she sent me her location.
I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry. Like she was done with her run.

(38:35):
I said whatever you got to do next weekend, I'm in.
It's like I have 1/2 marathon. OK, strap up.
So I went from running like 4 miles to 1/2 marathon.
I said all right, I'm going to do it.
Like if I told you I'm going to deliver, I'm going to run a half
marathon with you. Ran 1/2 marathon.
And then I was like 14 miles, 50miles, 16 miles.
And eventually I'm like, I'm just going to run a marathon,
dude. And I just ran my first full
marathon. It was amazing.

(38:57):
And then I was very lucky to getto sign up for Chicago.
And I, I emailed Autism Speaks and I asked them if I could be,
you know, one of the people to fundraise.
And I wrote some, I wrote them this incredible letter.
So my son's on the autism spectrum and I wrote them this
beautiful letter. And I was like, I promise you,
I'll make the money. I'll, I'll, I'll hit my goal.

(39:19):
Count on me. I will hit my goal hidden in 23
hours. Oh amazing.
Like the people of Miami are beautiful.
That's beautiful. That's beautiful.
It's like we talk about Miami like, man, Miami's an amazing
place and Miami cares like we are a small town.
Well, it says a lot about you too.
Yeah, and they did it, man. Like people just people have
never met people that just follow me on Instagram just and

(39:41):
I figured listen, I got if I canget $0.25 from every Instagram
follower, that's 5 grand, whatever it is, you know, like
people just showed up and when the time came to help, they
delivered, man, it was awesome. It was like such an I was in
tears, like bawling. Bawling.
Yeah. Like full on emotional,
hysterical crime. You know, like, it's crazy.

(40:01):
I put the link up. In 23 hours, we made 2750 bucks.
Wow. Now we're close to, like, 5
grand. Amazing.
Yeah. You know, I know, like some of
the people would like I posted and I get like, the hand
clapping or the fire emojis and I'm like, pay up.
Yeah. You know what?
I don't congratulate me. Yeah, I don't want that.
Right. Give me a dollar.
What do you do with the dollar? Yeah, give me a dollar, sure.
Like even my staff, like some ofthe staff who works their ass

(40:23):
off, give me 5 bucks. Sure.
And it adds up. And yeah.
So now I get to run the Chicago Marathon, which is like one of
the great 6 majors in the world.And I get to run it and, and
raise awareness and give back. And yeah, it's amazing.
And it's just like, I love challenges.
I want to do hard things like my, I like, I want to do like
one really hard thing a year, you know, that's so like next

(40:44):
year would be 1/2 Iron Man and which is great.
I got a bike. I traded a dinner for like a
used road bike, whatever. Like, I'm like the king of
bartering, you know? Yeah, I was a good swimmer.
No. I'm the worst.
I don't. But listen, my mentality is
like, I feel like I'm fit enoughto be able to swim a mile right?
Like I think I can. Yeah.
No, of course you can. Yeah.
We'll see how. Well, definitely start practice.

(41:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a plan.
Yeah. You know, so that's the thing
too, that's it's just working. Basically what I've been told is
it's all about the breathing. Yeah, it's all about the
breathing. For sure and I feel like.
I've done a. I'm sorry you're good.
I've done a a Sprint try many moons ago.
It was like 400 meter swim. It's nothing, but it's mild.
Yeah, we'll figure it out man. Just throw down and why not?
I figured cardiovascularly I canhandle it.

(41:25):
Yeah, you know what you should do is a Hyrox.
That's what I'm gonna do next year.
Okay, great. Yeah, Hyrox looks great.
I couldn't do it this year because I was at a food
festival. I don't know if it was like
Pebble or Puerto Rico, but the day I got back, it was the next
day, so I couldn't do it. But Hyrox looks great.
It's fun, yeah. I could see you love it.
Yeah, it was awesome. Hyrox looks great and it's cool.
It's like getting a lot of, likethe Crossfitters are in there.

(41:47):
It's just like, they just like, kind of nailed it.
Like Crossfit's kind of like gone a little too wild and like
after the guy died last, it's kind of like in a weird place.
But Hyrox was just like, simple,repeatable.
Yeah. Good branding.
Yeah. Approachable.
No, they knocked it out of the port.
They're knocked it out of the. Port they killed it indoor.
And it's just growing like massive.
There's 9, 1000 people at the Miami.
Yeah, 9000, yeah, it's amazing. That's unbelievable.

(42:09):
Yeah. And you can see it and people,
it's relatable. And just the, the, the diversity
too. It's so cool to see the, you
know, super fit chick within the, the overweight, you know,
parent or whatever, the normal part guy, whatever.
So it's just anybody can do it, that's the thing.
And that's. What that's what I love about
running too, is like anybody cando it, you know, like run your
page, like run a miles a mile going.

(42:29):
Up everywhere, run. Clubs are crazy.
A mile, a miles, a mile, right. Doesn't matter how you got
there, how long, like you did itright?
Like you cross it and yeah, it'sjust been it's been awesome.
But like, whatever, again, I'll do whatever.
It doesn't matter. You know what I mean?
Like it doesn't matter. I love, I just like, love
lifting things. I love movement.
I love you know, I tell people all time just like move man.

(42:50):
Just move like you will feel so good.
So have you ever done a pit class?
No, that's bro I'm you're like the quintessential member here.
That's the plan. You would love it.
So I mean, we have basically a ton of cross fitters use our pit
for their conditioning. So yeah, just.
Like high Rep. Yeah, well, it's so the concept
was when I was training professional athletes, I started

(43:12):
noticing I kind of had a system of how I trained them.
So it's a push movement and thena pull movement.
Love that. And then it's a high intensity
cardio movement. So you're going 2 minutes with
your partner. So it's like me and you were
doing it. Let's say we start out the chest
breath. So you do 5 reps, I do 5 reps,
you do 5 reps I do 5 reps you do5 reps I do 5 for the whole 2
minutes. I love that.

(43:32):
All right, then you switch and we do the rope.
So you do 5 reps on the rope, I do 5 rope.
Boom. And then the next is like the
skier. So now we're going like I go as
hard as I can for 20 seconds. You go as hard as I can for 20
seconds for two minutes. I love that.
And then there's 20 stations. But like with machines.
Yeah, So what I looked at in theindustry is right around the
time CrossFit was like crushing it berries, Orange 3, all these

(43:56):
people were kind of crushing in Group fitness.
Soul Cycle was really hot. And I was like, but everyone was
obsessed with what they called like functional training.
And I said to myself, I was like, what happened to
traditional selectorized machines that I've been doing
since I was, you know, seven years old?

(44:17):
That they don't cause injury, that you don't have to think,
you just have to get in it and work.
And so I was like, what if I putthat in the class environment
and it just was perfect. Like it?
It just blew up because. Those are, like, less scary,
yeah. Well, so it tricks women into
lifting weights for sure, like they're not intimidated.
And and then you can actually like easily see your

(44:39):
progression. Yeah, because you're it's, you
know, stack starts at like 5 andof course goes to 200.
So it's like on Monday, I was doing 25 for the the whole month
of May. Oh my God, I actually put it on
35 this month. So it's an easy.
It's kinda. And then the cardio, the other
things is the unmotorized treadmill.

(45:00):
So again, something that is it's.
Do you ever get on those? Yeah.
Like assault. It is an assault, actually.
Yeah. Which is actually harder than
running outside. It's brutal on the hamstrings
and the glutes. So crazy.
Skier. Yeah.
Rower, Versa climber, boxing, like punch in heavy bags, fan
bike. So basically think of all the

(45:22):
worst. I love that.
Yeah. It's just, it's what we use, you
know, and then sleds and ropes. That's great.
So it's it's it's if you took a traditional gym, a CrossFit gym
and like high rocks and made it into a world that's great.
And it's smart like 'cause also the, the safety element presents
itself. Like that's the one thing you
want to talk about across people.

(45:42):
Like man, you do that. That's scary.
And I'm like, it's very scalable, right?
Like for everybody. But like that takes away hey
listen, a shoulder press and a machine, your joints are happy.
You don't have to balance anything and you don't have to
like it. It it was.
That's cool. It really has allowed.
Also talk about like your age range.

(46:03):
Like I kid you not, we have likea 7 year old member and an 80
something year old member. We have this one woman, she's in
her 80s. She comes every day like and
she's a beast. Moving.
Yeah, moving. There's this.
Actually, there's this guy recently that's in his late 60s,
like 67 ish and he's the number one Crossfitter in the world.

(46:24):
I love that. And and he was here today
rolling his ass off. I was like, I was like, wow.
It's just amazing. It's.
So cool to see that that's. The best dude, that's like,
like, I want to be like, I was talking about it the other day,
like I want to be like the 80 year old marathoner, you know,
like, yeah, I love when I watch these videos, like, man, I like
the things that get me like the senior citizen Iron Man Cross.

(46:46):
That's crazy when they're doing someone with like a special
needs kid and they're. Like talking about crime.
First of all, you can't watch anIron Man on television without
just bawling crime. The the way they put that show
together with a storytelling Mike.
Rowe's voice in the back is crazy.
It's literally like you're just like you're.
You're bawling grime about to become obsessed with.
It yeah, I like, I just like wanna like push like that, yeah.

(47:09):
I love it. I love it.
I love it. Who's that?
You gotta I'm sure you obviouslyDavid Goggins.
You know what that is? But there's another Navy SEAL
with the long hair and the does ultra marathons.
What is his name? You got to find this guy like
you would love him. You know, Jesse Esler Etzler.
All right, I'm gonna send you some.
I'm gonna get your number after this.
I'm gonna send you some clips that will free you'll you'll go

(47:31):
for a. Run after you watch.
Yeah, I love that kind of stuff,man.
I love watching That's like my YouTube is like music, food and
fitness, you know, like it's allI watch.
It's like I don't even watch TV anymore.
Like I'm I, I tell people all the time, like if I'm not
learning something, like it's not really worth like I rarely
watch a sitcom. Like I'll watch things about
Olympic weightlifting. I'll watch things about running,
I'll watch things about cooking.I'll like if I don't have enough

(47:53):
time in my day where it's worth completely like kind of checking
out other than. Just.
Absorb, I want to absorb. I want to be better, like I want
to keep being better. And like that's what's been
amazing for me is like trackablegoals, you know, like then I
tell people with running too, islike, listen, if you run a mile
today and then you run a mile atat my half marathon, I had run
up to my training runs had been an 18 mile.

(48:16):
I had done an 18 Miller. So every step after that 18
miles, I kept telling myself like this is APR mile 19, you
just hit APR 19 and a step is APR 19 and another just like
that's what got me going. I was like every step you're
taking is another PR today, man.Like it's a big deal.
And like I crossed that finish line.
I had a goal. I finished a minute and 45 pass
it. I did four O 145.

(48:36):
I wanted to go sub 4 definitely did not train enough but man
that 20 and like I held an 855 pace for the 1st 18 mile and.
It was just the wall. But that's impressive.
Yeah, it was great. It was amazing.
And it was like, I love that 4140, like a dream 12, you know,
December 15th, I'll remember it.And it was like, I just ran a
marathon, dude. And.

(48:57):
When's the Chicago? One October 12th.
All right, Yeah, you're already training.
I'm. Ready.
Yeah, yeah, big training starts now.
So we have Murph on Monday and which is a big deal, you know, a
big workout and then after that we'll start getting into it
like, you know, I can, I'll be doing 8/10/12 mile runs out.
Those are good for me. But then we'll start pushing.
You know, it's, it's hard, man. It's no joke because we do our

(49:17):
long runs on the weekends and it's like I work at the
restaurant until 11 o'clock 11:30 to get up at 4:30 in the
morning. But just do it, man.
Yeah, whatever, dude. Sleep after.
And how is this whole new fitness journey kind of like
helped your business? I think it's just made me such a
better leader and it's made me so I'm just like more positive.
I'm very happy all the time and it's just like, like it's

(49:40):
allowed me to like be so focusedon like I told myself, like if I
have achievable goals at the gym, then like I can have those
achievable goals in my business and it just makes me better, you
know, like it to show up and be there and dedicate myself.
Like, and it went from being like this mentality of like, if
you can dedicate so much time toyour restaurant, you can
dedicate that much time to yourself, But it's like now it's
like if you can dedicate this much time to yourself, you can

(50:01):
dedicate this much time to the restaurant.
You know, it kind of like flipped and but it's, you know,
I take my meetings after the gym, right?
Like between 8:00 and 10:00, I'mout of we're not doing anything.
Yeah, that's my time, right? Yeah.
Like I get up every day. I go to the gym, I get to work
out and it's, you know, this morning was the same thing.
And it's part of my day. It's part of my routine.

(50:21):
It's how we start my day every single day.
Yeah. And it's just been like a
complete lifestyle change. And I'm just like, super happy
and like, even my kid knows, like, you know, that works out.
Like you going to the gym, you going to the gym.
He sees me like, in certain clothes.
He's like, you're going to go work out, right.
Like my son's six and already, like, fully comprehends that,
like, exercise is a pivotal partof his life.
Like I started exercising reallywhen he was 3.

(50:42):
So he like talk about like braindevelopment, like he knows
nothing other than my dad exercises.
Like he's not gonna remember you're one to three, you know,
Right, right. But everything he knows is like,
dad goes to the gym. You know what I mean?
Like family goes to the gym, everybody goes to the gym, the
family goes to the gym, everybody.
It's like a big, it's a big partof it and it's great.
Like, I just love. I love it.

(51:02):
You know what I mean? Like, I keep staring up there.
I'm like God damn, like. You're like, I don't want to be
in this. Kind of cut this short, you
know, we should. Have done the podcast of us.
While we were working. I love that, man.
It's just, yeah, yeah, I love it.
I see it. I'm like, oh man, like I love.
I look at Jim Acorn. I'm like, God, it's beautiful.
I'm like, great, you know, I'd like, that's what I spend my
money on now, you know, like gymstuff and like work stuff.
And it's like, yeah, so. And.

(51:23):
What about recovery? Like what?
Are you doing, I do sports massage, you know, stretching,
some yoga, starting to do some, some I I'm very lucky my
brother-in-law is APT OK, so I get some nice complimentary dry
needling, OK, You know, but like, yeah, I go all in man.
I do what I can to stay, you know, I think for the first

(51:45):
couple years it was less recovery.
Now I'm way more into that, right.
I'm realizing that like, I needed to continue to grow, you
know, and it's, it's, it's part of it, you know, it's the one
thing I'm like, I want to love so bad.
I can as a cold plunge, like. What do you mean you can't?
What kind of? Bullshit.
Terrifying man. I know it is bullshit, right?
Like. You know literally that you
sound like your old self. I know, man.

(52:06):
It's like, I've tried. I just need to like, RIP the
Band-Aid off, you know? I did a cold plunge after the
marathon and I'm like, oh, this is the breeze.
And then I looked and it was offand it was like 55°.
And I'm like, no, I was like, soweird.
Why do people complain about this?
Hit a 35. You know, I got an idea.
Let's fucking go, cold punch. Oh geez, let's go.
All right, all. Right, I'll cold plunge with
you. Fuck it.

(52:28):
I want the the mics. Oh, God.
All right, what's up there? I'm in.
It was. Awesome.
It's not what I'm affecting my dad to turn it.
You got it. How you looking here?
So I was like when you as soon as you the way you said it, I
was like, no, fuck that, let's go.
It shouldn't. Now you got this one.
It's like the nuts. Somebody freaking turn this

(52:48):
thing up. Can't stand when people touch my
cold ones. Someone turn this one up.
So hold on. Yeah.
You ready? Yeah, I mean, it's ready.
All right, you left out it's freaking out that cold today, so
you lucked out, but we're going to do it together since all

(53:09):
right, you know, because I don'twant you to be doing this so.
I mean, I'm that we can let us get colder.
I'll go with no. You're good, You're good, all
right, because you've never donecold plunging, right?
Not really not. So this is what I want.
This stuff is there, huh? You're going to step, put your
two feet as low as you know, allthe way doing around, and then

(53:29):
sit down and get as low as you can.
Obviously we have mics on that don't get too low.
What's going to happen is, as you know, is as soon as you get
in, you're going to be, you know, like this panic is going
to happen, right? Immediately shut that shit off
the same. So you're a marathon runner,
bro. Like for every single time
you're running and you get tired, your legs are burning.
You don't say quit, right? You just keep going.

(53:51):
So it's the same thing. So when people tell me they
can't cold plunge and they do the shit you do, that's just
lying to yourself. So now you might not like the
cold, but again, it's who cares?So because it is beneficial.
So what I want you to do is immediately shut off the panic,
OK, and start to relax your breathing.
So you do yoga, you've done somebreath work before.

(54:12):
Focus on the breathing. That's it.
Just focus on the breathing. You're good.
We're going to stay in here at least three minutes, so. 3
minutes, yeah. And this was not even cold
today, so you're fine. Like I'm over here, 10° colder.
So you're good. You ready?
Ready. All right, here we go.
Holy fuck. Hands in, hands in.

(54:37):
Yep. It's cool.
Not good with the microphone. It's not like touching the
water. All right, so you're good,
You're good. So relax your breathing right
now. Take yourself to a happy place.
So take yourself to that pasta that you enjoy.
I like to box greed. So if you want to focus on like

(54:59):
into the nose, kind of hold it for a little bit and out to the
mouth, but basically just reallycalm your breath, calm your
breath. You're doing great.
But if you could implement this,say three days a week, you know,
like it will really help your recovery.

(55:21):
Also, sauna is amazing too. After.
Yeah, I would like for you, I would say I would have recovery
days. OK, so for you, instead of your
'cause you're doing long run, you're doing CrossFit.
Those are very intense stuff. So for you I would say do
recovery days where you're literally doing some contrast
therapy. So let's do like 10 to 15

(55:41):
minutes and a really hot sauna. Then go in here for 2-3 minutes.
Then go back and do some contrast.
You will feel like 1,000,000 bucks the next day, like
1,000,000 bucks. This is already a.
Record. Yeah, PR day.
No, you're doing PR bro. So as soon as you said I can't,
I was like, there's no way you can't I.
Would say the perfect day to. Do a cold, you are like, you can

(56:04):
do anything, anything. So and you're leading by example
every single day. So this is just another, another
way to do it. The difference in these cold
plunges and probably most cold plunges is that there's a
circulation. So you can't like form that
thermal barrier. So it's breaking it up every
time. So you're, you're there's
nowhere to run, right? Because they're staying.

(56:25):
Cold and the other one the. Other one in your body, Yeah.
Because if you sit, stood still,yeah, then you could actually
like, stay in there all day if you got to.
But this one breaks it up for you.
So it's miserable. Like it sucks.
Beautifully miserable. Yes, yes.
But it's it's good. Pain.
It's yeah, it's different. Let's man, I had like needles in
my Achilles tendon. This is definitely not Yeah.

(56:45):
Exactly right. Yeah, I did APRP into my
Achilles bro I did. Crazy so I've broken my back
twice. Try doing PRP and Prolo with
volcanic ash directly in your spine.
Oh God no I have the were you did you you shot that right?
Did you shoot that or somebody else shot?
Oh no Jordy shot that. Oh, bro, felt like a bowling

(57:07):
ball going through my spine. Crazy.
It was wild. It was wild.
And then of course the doctor was like, you know, 90% of
people go under for this procedure.
And I was like, oh really? He didn't tell me.
That Brian, I asked the lady told like this gonna stick.
It'll probably hurt a little bit.
I'm like a. Little bit, yeah.
No, it burns like something. My God.
It's like hot lava lava going through your body.
And I remember asking them like,why were you squeezing my foot?

(57:29):
They're like, we weren't. That's the pressure.
Of the liquid expanding so imagine that your spine.
Oh no, it. Literally felt like a bowling
ball. I was like what is going?
On yo we did it see. Easy money.
OK, Easy money. OK, All right.
Easy money. Wow.

(57:50):
All right. Cool.
Good job, man. Thanks, dude.
I was no. Thank you for pushing me man.
Yes. So now you've done it.
So now you've. Done it.
No, now I got to do it again. Now.
Feels great. Yeah, this.
Feels good this feels amazing sothey they you know and again
when I say they I'm not really sure who I'm talking about

(58:11):
because there's so much information out there out there
but they say that cocaine gives you about like a 15 minute
dopamine rush and cold plunging of three three minute cold
plunging in less than 50° gives you a 6 hour dopamine all right
so. Kind of.
Now we know. Yes, this is the.

(58:32):
Perfect way to take over Miami club scene.
Cold plunges. That feels great.
I feel awesome now. That's it.
This. Is really a point to increase
the views with our sexy bodies? That's really it.
What? We're going to do, man.
We know what sells. Yeah, great job bro.

(58:53):
Thanks bro. I appreciate that man.
I. Appreciate you.
Thank you. Of course.
And we got to get you in here working out, yeah.
Man, I would love to but. I had to.
I had to do that. That was awesome.
Yeah, that was great. Not what else.
We really did it, people. So that's.
A real deal, yes right. I got you're right, man, I can't
like remember they all commit and not commit right.
Exactly. It's the same every single thing

(59:14):
you said on the podcast up untilthat point was like how you've
grown, you know, from a, from a mental state.
And then all of a sudden you were like defeated.
And I was like, I was doing hellno.
All right man, keep growing every day, right man, Sick.
So do hard shit. Fuck yeah.

(59:35):
You know, there's all that. And yeah, you're always welcome
here. Thank you.
So if you ever want to do that again, I will.
Let me know. I will.
I will. I got to get a work on it with
Ivan. I keep saying like I keep
watching him like he was like deadlifting the other day.
I was like, how do you feel? How do you feel?
He's like, I feel great. It's awesome.
I was like. He's funny, like him and Julian.
They're, you know, they're younger guys.
So and I always feel like the soI always said to myself, I was

(59:58):
going to never going to be my dad.
That's like, you know, when I was your age, you know, like
because I was like it was cringy.
You know, now I'm doing it, of course, man, because I'm with
like they would hit like APR andI'm like, yeah, I used to do
that like 18 times in college. You're all but it's like, you
know, me and I'm training. Josh Wet for the Well, he played

(01:00:19):
for the Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles last year.
OK, nice with Arizona Cardinals.And me and him were talking
about like what, 'cause he's a little bit further along in his
career and he's in his late 30s.So we were talking about the
things we did in our 20s and we don't even understand it how how
we physically did the things we did like hang cleaning 385 for.

(01:00:43):
Beautiful, what a dream. Squatting 660 like all these
crazy things and we're like how?Did we do?
That. You know dude, I started at 37.
Because I started lifting like 6years old like my dad, I used to
call the dumbbells dumb bars. Like look dumb bars dad.
Like you know, I mean he had us doing push ups.

(01:01:04):
He would wake me up at 5:00 AM and have me running in front of
his car before he went to work. That's sick.
And like if I slowed down he would honk the morning you.
Know I love that. Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, man, yeah. Never too late, right?
Like, no, never too late. That's what I and I tell people
that all the time. Like it's never dude.
I started at 30, pretty much 37 years old.
You know, I think the. Thing for me that like it's it's

(01:01:25):
so your energy and excitement and enthusiasm for like where
you are in your life and how it's tied to fitness.
It's just. Beautiful.
It's crazy. It's beautiful and it's fully
like I, I, I truly love it and Ican feel it and I tell people
all the time like I am my sister.

(01:01:46):
She is a she's APT. She's like had APT with UM,
knows every bone in the body, knows every ligament.
Captain of the varsity soccer team, played basketball,
whatever. I'm not gifted.
I'm not an athlete. I just work like I don't have
the jeans. So when I get people like if I
could do it, you can do it. Anybody can do it.

(01:02:06):
Anybody can do it, man. Anybody can do it.
And like, I'm not special. I just work hard and I dedicate
myself to it every single day. Like I'm not a special, like I'm
not a freak, right? But compared to other men my
age? It is a freak chef though.
OK, let's. Keep there.
Yes, but like, you know, compared to other men, like my

(01:02:27):
age, I, I see people all the time.
I'm just like, dude, how are younot moving?
And then I think I thought, OK, three years ago you weren't
moving either, you know, and. But you have such a platform
now. That yeah.
And I want to, that's all I want.
Like, like I don't want to be aninfluencer.
I don't like, I don't want to bean influencer, but I would love
to influence you to make yourself better.
You know what I mean? Like I just want to have a voice
and I want people to see me and say like, dude, if you can do

(01:02:48):
it, like if you can do it, I cando it.
Think, think of me like that, You know what I mean?
Like don't idolize me. Just be like, yo, if this guy
can do it, like I can do it. Yes, 100% you can do it.
And obviously more targeted to people in my industry that it's
just got such a bad Rep of like,you know, like you don't like, I
want to like I would love for chefs to know like you don't
need to be like, you don't have to do the Jameson shot and the

(01:03:12):
beer after service. Like you don't have to do that.
It's OK. Like you don't have to be that
image anymore. Like you don't have to scream.
You don't have to be rude. Like you can just be a good dude
and like you can work hard and have a protein shake and set,
you know what I mean? Like it's crazy.
Like at work, man. I think about it, too.
Like, like, we don't have shift beers.
Like we're drinking Celsius or, well, you know what I mean?

(01:03:33):
We're drinking, like, electrolytes, like me and the
boys at work. Like there's no shift beers at
the end of service. Like, we'll drink electrolytes.
I'm like, yo, boys, who wants anelement?
You know? That's how the kitchen is now,
you know? And like, we run, we work out
together. We live together.
Like, I send them videos of my lifts.
Like, they send me videos of, like, they send me screenshots
of their runs and their distance.
And like, these are my boys in the kitchen.
Yeah. Like my cooks, my chefs.

(01:03:55):
And it's really interesting to have this relationship, you
know, where where the boys say like, Yo, after my most
important thing I did after my marathon, I went to work.
I ran a full marathon and I worked dinner service that day
in the kitchen. And I wanted to show everybody
in that restaurant that like, ifyou want to, you can like there
are don't make excuses like, oh,you're tired.
I ran a full marathon today and I'm here at work on time.

(01:04:17):
Where are you? You know, like that's, those are
the ways I want to inspire and Iwant to lead to show people that
and my crew and my team that like if this 4 year old dude can
do it, I can do it. You know, that's the plan,
that's it. Bro, you're awesome.
My man, thank you so so much fundude.

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Trust a Jacked Chef: Chopped Winner on Hard Work, Fitness, and Leveling Up | S3, Ep 19.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Trust a Jacked Chef: Chopped Winner on Hard Work, Fitness, and Leveling Up | S3, Ep 19.