Ep 256: Jason Walsh: Training Bradley Cooper & Transformation Truths

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
To downfill making conversations. My guess is Jason wolfsh a
strength and performance coach whose path wasn't built on influenza shortcuts,
but on real mentorship, real athletes, and real results. In
this episode, Jason blows up the myth of the overnight
celebrity transformation and explains what real challenges bodies can go through.

(00:35):
Minimum effect us, progressive overload, and recovery you can measure.
We talk about rebuilding capacity after the wrong kind of volume,
preventing tendon fleaar of ups that Dyl shoots and have
a smart plan turned into a serious transformation from Bradley
Cooper on American Sniper, a process that demanded commitment, not magic.

(00:57):
Today you'll hear the beginner versus experience. No fluff, no gimmicks,
just a clear path to stay endurable, focused, and ready
when the camera rolls. This episode is brought to you
by star Walkers Farms. Once a protein that truly powers
your performance. At star Walker Organic Farms, they produce the
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(01:22):
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(01:45):
com and you can find more information about the organization
in the show notes. So let's start at the beginning. Jason,
what inspired you to step into the world of strength
and performance training.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, it's been something that's it's always been around, you know,
It's something that I've I never thought it was gonna
be my you know, end all career or you know,
my passion. To be honest with you, it was sparked
at a certain point. But when I was young, I
didn't have a father figure around. So my uncle ended
up being that man and in my life that really

(02:21):
inspired me and got what a perfect, perfect specimen to
have as a father figure. It was my mom's brother,
older brother, and he is Noel certified. He's a he's
a survivalist, he's a you know, a mountain climber, an
alpinist you know, for lack of a better term, and

(02:42):
he's just an incredible human. I mean, he just I
was awe inspired when I was young and I looked
up to him and he was always always doing something
physical like stretching or yoga or climbing or you know,
like he just it was just something and it just
I don't know, I just it was something that triggered
inside of me and I wanted to be like my
uncle John. So that had, you know, was the was

(03:04):
the initial spark early on. And then man, I must
have been eleven, twelve years old and a coach. It
must have saw something inside of me that as far
as athleticism natural talent went. And he he, you know,
set me down and told me that, you know, in

(03:25):
order to really exploit and become a better athlete that
you know, strength training is is you know, something that's
really important. So he gave me the keys to the
gym at my my grade school, and you know it
just told me on my way home to stop in
and do a little bit of you know training in
there and told me what to do. And that kind

(03:45):
of like started that little you know, that put that
little seed in my in my head and it really
you know, just done math. You know, you realize that
it does transpire into you know, being one of the bigger,
better athletes, and you know, you get a lot of
recognition and and people kind of adore you for that.
And then you know, in high school it transferred into

(04:08):
you know, like I don't know, women noticing anymore. It's
those little things, you know, those little little little little
moments in your life where you go and you just
put the math together and you're like, oh, well, this
this is definitely worth my time in the gym, you know,
and uh yeah. And it wasn't until and it's still
at that point. Wasn't like something that I was looking into,

(04:28):
you know, becoming a trainer, because the trainers to me
in the you know, the eighties early nineties were nothing
to be you know, to aspire to, which is kind
of like a it was an afterthought for people. It
wasn't really a pathway or a career. You know. It
was just something that people did to to you know,
help pay the bills until they figured out what they

(04:50):
were going to do. And it's still sort of kind
of like that. But you know, the fitness and we'll
call it wellness industry for you know, I despised the
terminallogy that the that the industry uses, but it is
to soften it up and make it much more marketable
and things like that. It uh, you know, I I

(05:12):
it wasn't until I got into college and I was
actually there too. I was really interested in nutrition and
my path was medical nutrition, and it soon became apparent
that it wasn't as exciting I thought it was going
to be. And yeah, you're just stuck in a lab

(05:33):
and you're doing these things. You're like, this isn't it,
This isn't it. You know. But during that, you know time,
because it's pretty much a medical path that you had
to take physiology and all these other you know, kinesiology
and mechanics and I don't know, it really just kind
of came together. It was really it pulled me that direction.
And then ironically, very close to that same time, I

(05:56):
was more or less discovered at the college center working
out by an athlete that I knew. I just knew him,
and he saw me working I was like, Jesus, what
are you doing? What are you training for? It? Because
I just that was just my gear. It was just
kind of like go in and just destroy yourself every
single time you go. You go push and push, push
really hard, and without really any knowledge. It was just

(06:17):
kind of I was self taught. You know. I went
to the gym. I looked at the guys in the
gym that had the big arms. I was like, well,
what are they doing? Okay, well I'll clock that. And
then you look at the guy at the chest and
the legs and the and you just kind of mimic
what they're doing and you try to take it to
your own, to your own level, and really push yourself.
And that was that was it. That was how I was,
how I was taught. And just bunning hard work and

(06:39):
you know, working on a farm and and and loving
the fruits of your labor, so to speak. And in
college when I when I went into physiology, and then
I got discovered by this kid in the rec center.
He turned me on to and introduced me to his
his strength coach there, who was his name's Greg Gatz.
He was the head strength conditioning coach for all the

(07:00):
Olympic athletes at the University of North Carolina. And it just, man,
I I tell you what I felt like someone who
had a pretty good grip on you know, how what
to do and how to do it and how to
look good, because that was really what it was all about,
was looking good at that point. And he he came

(07:21):
in and just completely annihilated uh and and pretty much
devastated me because I I realized how little I knew.
But it was also inspiring to like, go, oh, you know,
there's there's so much more out there to learn, and
and that's what really intrigued me. And and I had
the work ethic, you know, I knew what I you know,
I could if I could apply a true science of

(07:42):
what training is. And even at the college level, it's
a different level than when you get into a pro level,
you know, string conditioning coach. And yeah, so I built
my foundation. I was. I was an intern for a
couple of years and then graduated and became Greg hired
me on as an assistant stream coach, and I don't know,

(08:03):
you get your rounds and you're working your ass off.
You're working up at you know, five a m. Get
to work at six, you work till lunch, and then
you work until six or seven at night. And it's
just that thing every single day. And then on the weekends,
you're you know, trying to have a social life, but
you're also a bar I was bartending, you know, to
pay for the bills because strength conditioning didn't do it.
And uh, yeah, it was. It was that was really

(08:25):
the start that started at all.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
So once like your uncle to be the man he
was and the role model he was to you.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
I think it was from having a really shitty childhood.
I think he was, you know, he and I can't
believe he let it turn him into a monster, because
he you know, my my mom on the side of
the family grew up with some really really terrible men
and they were very abusive in many, many, many ways.

(08:52):
I think my uncle took the physical abuse, and you know,
the psychological stuff went in, you know, down to the
women in the in the in the family. And I
don't know if he just I don't know what, you know,
because again, you hear these stories of people having really
bad childhoods and it really they become so they become

(09:16):
so broken and resentful and they use that in a
way to become sometimes to become that same person or worse.
And I don't know what triggered my uncle and what
decision I should ask him that. It's a good question,
you know, why did you how did you turn out
to be a good person? And I think that it's
just an innate thing that he had. You could just
tell when you're talking to him. He's pure, you know,

(09:39):
like he's just like he's just a good person. It's
just that person that decided to go, you know, to
to you know, the forest instead of the dark side.
I guess I don't know that's a bad analogy. And anyway,
you know, lucky me, you know, I needed that role
model in my life because in the Midwest and Missouri
in the United States, I don't know, it's just I

(10:00):
think it's a bunch of young people having kids don't
really understand what it is to be a father and
how important those those moments are in the child's life
and how it really it ripples through the rest of
their life who they become. And and you know, there
wasn't a lot of good examples of that in my life.
You know, I saw my my, my, my neighbor kid,

(10:22):
you know, the best friend Jason John's you know, or
or or you know Levi Rust and this other kid
that you know I went to grade school with and
he just got the shit kicked out of him by
his dad all the time, and it was constant. And
you're just sitting back and you know, I'm like, I
was raised by women. You know. No, I'm sitting back going,
oh man, it could have been worse. And I'm glad
I didn't have that that that that person in my

(10:43):
life to you know, program me and potentially, you know
a way that would have just completely changed my life.
I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
So how did your professional experiences and your personal experiences
lead you to the journey to become the founder of
rise free one one.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
I think that because of I can look back now,
it's it's nice in hindsight to go I was given
so much freedom as a kid. My mom was seventeen
when she had me. I've always had that thing of
discovery right, and I've always had that thing with my uncle,
just kind of choosing the right.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
You know.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Look, I'm not saying I'm not going to sit here
and and tell you that I'm someone that doesn't make mistakes.
You know, I think we all do and make plenty
of mistakes. So let's make sure that we we I
want to make sure to say that before going into
you know, I just I think when you're when you've
got that ability to just recognize what's wrong in a

(11:43):
system or in in a you know, let's just say,
you know, for example, in the in the fitness industry,
like I I was a strength coach, you know, so
the ego there is and and my mentor Luke Richardson,
who I didn't tell you later when I went into
working for an elite strength conditioning coach who was I

(12:04):
think hands down one of the best in the business.
He inspired me as well. He just had he had
the ability to really, you know, control the room. And
that's a it's it's a very tough thing to to
to be someone that's you know, sub six foot tall.
He was so alpha and like he just would come

(12:25):
in and I wanted to tap into you know how
he can control the room, uh and still demand respect.
You know, people get it, and I don't know, it's
just the ability. I think I started to really recognize
where there was gaps in industry, you know, like you
got to listen, you got to pay attention to these things,
because I think that's the ability to really change and

(12:47):
have an influence. It's not to do it to have
an influence, but it's like, man, there's something really missing.
So those abilities when I was young, the freedoms that
I had when I was really young. I don't I'm
not stubborn, but I'm I have this this uncanny ability
to just to leap, you know, to to recognize something
and then take the risk and go. You know, I've
done that since I was since I was a kid.

(13:08):
You know, I think that I don't really hesitate when
I believe in something. And that's another level for people.
You know, there's a lot of people that are creative.
There's so many people that sit on ideas, and you
have to be you have to be, you know, calculating
when you think about moving forward on something, because it
can be risky, it can be expensive most of the time.
It is risky most of the time. It is expensive,

(13:29):
even if you don't realize it at the time. And
I don't know if I believe in something that I
have the ability to make a positive change, you know,
I just I'm almost obsessed about it in a way.
And I think that that was the initial spark with
Rise three eleven U three one one is you know,

(13:50):
just recognizing that there was you know, it's a saturated market.
I mean that the supplement industry is about as bad
as any industry is out there. You know. It's like
they're it's not regulated, so they're able to get away
with you know, skirting around. Yeah, it's it's it's pretty
it's pretty bad. But with that, you know, it's like
they're going to take that route that gives them the

(14:12):
best margins. Most companies and most people don't realize that
the big companies buy out the small companies and so
they own them, and then they start changing the formula
and they start doing what they can to really tweak things,
to manipulate the public and make the most profit. Right,
you can't go to a gas station here in America
now without seeing you know, a moon pie or potato

(14:34):
chips or water or something that you know has protein
on it. Because if it has protein on it, then
people feel like they're you know, at least leaning into
being healthier. You know, that's all that's, that's all it's
in there for. You know, like I don't I'd be
surprised if there was any quality protein, you know, like
something in there that was actually beneficial it's just a
way to get people to feel better about eating junk food.

(14:57):
And when you recognize that that people doing those kinds
of things, it's pretty apparent that you're going to stand
out if you have something that's really genuinely like you
make it for people, you know, like you're you're you know,
it's just it's so it's almost it's just too easy
in a way, you know. Like I felt like the

(15:19):
reason why I got into the fitness industry out of
the strength conditioning, which it drove my mentor absolutely crazy
that I was considering it. But I was like, hold
on a second, coach. I was like, listen, we have
the best science you know, and and and you know,
the the the If you have this kind of information

(15:39):
and it's not really being genuinely like you know, appreciated,
uh or or you know, utilized in in the world
of strength conditioning, I mean, I wish I would have
had that information when I was training, because it would
have saved me a hell of a lot of time
as blood, sweat and tears, you know, because man, it
would have been it would have been fantastic. And I

(16:01):
was like, you know, I flew out to LA and
I you know, at the time, it was honest to
be completely transparent. It was because you know, I met
a girl and she lived in LA and so I
went out to visit her. And when I was there,
I was like, Oh, I'm gonna take a look around
LA and see what people are doing in the fitness
industry because you hear so much about how LA is

(16:23):
like the hub and the mecca. And when I came
out in two thousand and five, there was it was bad.
I mean, it was like I was doing this stuff
that these guys are doing when I was young, you know,
like it was that that kind of training nobody had
any idea about, you know, like body like movement and functionality,
and you know, their their their goal wasn't anything to

(16:43):
do with treating the body to be resilient and you
know those types of things. It was really a genuine
shift when I came out. I mean, I don't know
if it's true, but I was told that I was
the first strength conditioning coach to like leave that world
because they really hold you know people, it's an ego thing.
It's very macho. To stay in the world of strength

(17:04):
condition you have to have a degree to get there.
And in the world of training, anybody can do it.
And that's what happens, is that anybody can pretend to
be something. You could read a book or you could
just look really fantastic and you know, perform really well
and people will be they'll listen to you. You know.
So there's a lot of Charlatan's, there's a lot of

(17:25):
you know, corruption and weird stuff going on in the industry. So, uh,
it made sense to bring somebody for me to like
leave this world of strength conditioning where I didn't really
see you know, the future in world of strength conditioning
is it's tough, man, it's they're the best. It's where
really it's where like the science comes from and you know,

(17:47):
and and the true knowledge and application comes from that world.
And I'm seeing more and more of the strength conditioning
coaches now, you know, twenty years later doing what I did.
You know, they're leaving that and they're realizing that they
have something really great and they can make, you know,
change people's lives. That it actually that actually get a

(18:09):
lot more respect and appreciation changing you know, the general
population than if they're trying to help athletes, and the
athletes by far in large just don't really appreciate, you know,
what you're trying to do for them. It's a it's expected.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
So how has your purpose evolved over the years, especially
as you're you've shifted from training individuals to building wellness
products for the broader public.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
I think it all ties back to just the you know,
the recognition and the ability to have, you know, a
level of knowledge and insight into things that people you
can just when you sit back and you watch these
big companies taking advantage manipulating the public with really good

(18:59):
market and you know all that, it's just it's disgusting,
you know, like and and honestly, all I want to
do is I just want to help people, you know,
Like I don't really do a lot in the public eye.
I mean I put my head down and you get criticized.
It doesn't matter this in this day and age. If
if you're doing anything good a lot of time, you're

(19:21):
just gonna get a lot of you know, criticism. But
for me, it's easy because I just put my head
down at my my my track record speaks for itself.
I don't have to prove anything to anybody. I have
achieved more in this industry than I had ever dreamt of,
and it was truely just because I honestly wanted to
do good work and help people, and that was really

(19:42):
the drive. So I think if you have integrity and
you put your mind on a path of what your
goal is with that, with that integrity and good intentions,
then it really takes care of itself. Right.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
You are certainly doing good things, that's for sure. I've
seen some of your work even before we arrange this podcast,
and everythink that was aware of who you are and
what you've been doing over the last few years because
you've I appreciate that. Oh no, no, I appreciate what
you do because you've trained some of Hoddy's biggest names.
So what's one misconception people have about celebrity transformations?

Speaker 1 (20:21):
They're just human, you know, like I think that I
think that you're gonna see there's different the science still,
you know, it applies the science of training, it applies
to the physiology. It's just and and you know the
biology of what a human is. So you really just

(20:42):
kind of like dumb it down and just treat everybody
kind of the same, start people off the same. You're
you know, you're recognizing, you know, issues that people have
and addressing these issues where you know, in the industry
of like you know, training, like the fitness world, people
work around they're like, oh, you have a bad should okay,
well you shouldn't do anything overhead, you know, And generally speaking,

(21:03):
it's like one of the worst things you can do
is not address something because it's going to transfer into
something else. Compensations, you know, injuries, sidelining people, and I
think that's the last thing that you want to do
in in in what we're trying to you know, accomplish
with these guys. And I think that that's how I
really made my name, is just taking that world of strength, conditioning,

(21:23):
recovery and and you know, applying that to you know,
us a general population, and it just I just got lucky,
and you know, you get one or two of these
clients that happened to be working in the industry and
word spreads. You know, it's a small it's a small world,
and a lot of people talk, you know, so it's

(21:45):
like if you have a good reputation, you're doing something
you know, uh generally new so to speak, then you know,
people are like you gotta get you gotta you gotta
see this guy, you know, like he he fixed my
back or in my shoulder or or you know, I
just feel better and stronger than ever. You know.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
So what's the difference in your approach or your methodology
when you are training someone like Jennifer Anderston who has
a history in personal training, rather than someone who.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Hasn't really nothing. Honestly, it's the same start. You know,
you have a conversation, you ask them, you know, like,
most likely somebody like Jennifer Anderson has been training really
poorly when you're young. When you're young, you're really resilient,
and in this and in this world, you know, people

(22:37):
tend to gravitate, especially now, towards the trendy stuff or
what you're told is great. You know. It's like I
just heard from one of my clients who has really
really bad feet, really bad feet, and it's from years
and years and years of wearing high heels and things
like that, and of course genetics play role, but she

(22:58):
was the one that told me that she's taking, you know,
this really cool class in New York where they're dancing
and working out in high heels, and it's just one
of the most aconine things that you're ever going to
hear if you can. You can't even think these things.
I mean the fact that people are, you know, doing
drumstick classes where they're and and it's cool. I understand it.
I understand better now because I've gone through all that

(23:19):
stuff that it wants. People want to have fun, they
want community. I get it. But you know, when you're
doing you're just making stuff up and throwing you know,
wet noodles against the wall to see what sticks, and
then that because it's a different you know, it's it's
something that nobody's ever thought of, or it's it's just
the same regurgitated concepts with a new paint job or

(23:44):
a new name. You know, it's it happens, and it's
doing it. You know, you're doing it a lot. And
you know, someone like Jennifer, who you know had trained before,
had really you know, she had major she had like
a big knee problem. When she came to me, it
was a it was a you know, it was something
that is really hindering her. And what do you do?
You don't you know, when you're young, you're just like,
I'm gonna grin and bear it and work around it.

(24:06):
And you know, you compensate and you figure out a
way to do something so that it doesn't hurt. So
there's that, you know, you get away from that and
you feel like, oh well, I must be doing fine.
And then it's it's like a misialigne tire on a car,
you know, so many laps into it. Eventually something else
is going to break. You know, it just throws everything off.
So I think with Jennifer it was, you know, more

(24:27):
important than ever because you also have someone who you know,
knows a lot more because they've been you know, paying attention,
they've done that that that step in the right direction,
but not maybe maybe not making the right step in
the right direction. You know. So it tends to be
a lot harder than somebody that hasn't trained to is
pretty you know, much green for lack of better, you know,

(24:48):
and you bring them on and you really teach them
from the ground up and you can help them, you know,
kind of deviate from some of those common mistakes that
people make and having overuse injury and stopping stopping things
before they become major major problems.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
And in your experience, can you tell us about someone
who you've trained a celebrity. We may know who didn't
have a history at all in training and having a
good diet or anything like that, but took to what
you offer like a duck to water.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Oh man, that's a great question. I you know, I
and I love you like Bradley Cooper to me. Uh,
I'm just he's like a brother at this point, you know.
And I was really really proud of him for the
transformation that we did in American Slim Paper because he'd

(25:42):
never I mean, I had to think he was like
maybe one eighty one eighty five or something like that,
if I I mean, shit, that was so many years
ago when he came to me. And he's worked out before,
don't get me wrong, Like he's done some of the
typical kind of bodybuilding stuff you know when he's young,
you know, like in eighteen Fantastic and I can't remember
what the girl's name is that he trained with. But

(26:03):
he ended up doing a lot of damage because of
the volume that they had applied, and it had caused
some major inflammatory tendon issues and arms, and you know,
and and and those are the kind of things that
sideline you or keep you away from, you know, training
or at least training well. And so with him, It

(26:25):
wasn't about getting you know, big and ripped, you know,
like superhero, like the superhero kind of look. It was
he played this guy that was two hundred and twenty pounds,
so you know, really the training, the the the stress
that we had to apply to him was getting him
to like, you know, getting to a point where we
can progress into like heavier and heavier lifting. And with him,

(26:49):
because we didn't have as much time as I would
have liked to get him to like have better range
emotion mobility, we just lifted from different levels that were
more safe, you know, so he still got that stimuli
of heavyweight, and then it was really about it came
down to how much, you know, how many calories can

(27:10):
we get this guided to take over a certain amount
of time. And it was a it was a scary
process for me because it was you know, it was
a completely different idea of not having to lean someone
out but actually bulk someone up. And I didn't know.
I honestly, it was one of the one times that
I just didn't have the as much confidence as I
would have loved to have had to you know, go

(27:31):
into something. And it wasn't until I think we got
to Morocco and that he actually hit the two hundred
and you know, twenty pound mark, which was his goal.
That's where he's like, I want to be the same
size as Chris Kyle, you know, like it helps him
with character building. And so that was a that was
an incredible process and a very different process than anything

(27:54):
else that I've I've ever had to addressed.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
In terms of these transformations that stand out to you
from the actors, not just physically, but in terms of
mindset or personal growth. How do they differ to other
people that you try, and well.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
It's very it's very different because it becomes the focal point.
Usually they have time, you know, like I we we
have time, we have money behind it to pay for
you know, uh chefs, dietitians, you know, like it's it's
all in and all the focuses on on them and

(28:29):
that character. So with us general population that you know
come in and train, we can definitely do you know,
focused training and trying to get them, you know, to
to reach a goal. But people have daily lives and
and they're like, you know, they don't get to sleep in,
they don't get to you know, go have the you know,

(28:51):
recovery aspects that these you know, actors are able to
incorporate into the formula. It's like the perfect scenario, you know,
with with it generally speaking with with the actors, it's
like everything you want and think you could you know,
potentially put into this formula of creating or transforming somebody,
it's there. It's it's all the tools are at your

(29:13):
at your disposal. And with people like myself and you
like that, you know people that that's you know, we
have a daily day, you know, day to day at
nine to five, so to speak, it plays, it reaks
having there's more stress in a way that is different
from you know, someone who is you know, not working
waiting to create this character to you know, you know,

(29:35):
you bet this goal and that's going to help them
with the character building and in whatever you know, production
that they're in. So it's a very different, uh just
world overall for them, you know, it's it's it's perfect
scenario versus you've got to deal with people with kids.
You know, they've got vacations, they've got all these things

(29:57):
that come up social life, you know, you name that.
There's just so many little things that could could sideline
that progress. And you know, I think what it is
is it's just really being upfront and honest and transparent
about that with the with the clients, like I I,
I just tell them, if you want to do all
of these things, it's going to expedite the process. Now,

(30:17):
I'm not saying that you can do it or you know,
like even I could do it, because we don't have
that perfect scenario, you know, like you're not getting paid
to do this, you know, so you know this has
got to come from come from will come from you know,
discipline and the discipline, Well, what how much does this
mean to you? You know, like how much what's the

(30:39):
what's the balance in your life? What are you able
to give up and able to get to your goal?
And it's easier if you're single, it's easier if you
know you have the money to do it. And there's
a lot of there's a lot of variables involved there
that you got to take into consideration, you know, and uh,
it's it's it's tough. And but people are starting to

(31:01):
they're starting to do it more and more, you know,
Like I think that you're starting to see people try
to bring balance and they're going to give up drinking
and they're gonna try to eat right because there's more
information out there too, and it's you know it, it
is there for the taking. We're all different in our
abilities and and what work. You know, what life, what
life gives us.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
It's how there's all this information and education at the
enow for us to all see. Because me coming from England,
you know, I'm a huge soccer fan, like like many
guys my age whatever, and we used to grow up
seeing footballers just basically drink loads of alcohol and and
eat fish and chips.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
And it's a great culture though. I gotta say I
love it. I mean I do. I honestly. I'm walking
through Soho, you know, on my way home, I'm forgetting
dropped up being on set or whatever, and you're just
there's something really great about it. There's there's genuine like
there's this culture and and and people. You know, every

(32:02):
single pub that you pass and there's a lot of pups,
oh yeah, pretty pretty full, and people really are you know,
it's I don't know, there's a respect there, but also
like how do you guys perform them? You know, at
work tomorrow, I drink one or two beers and I'm
just you know, screwed up the next day. But yeah,
you're right, there's historical things that people are having to

(32:25):
work through. I mean even in you know, like I said,
in the Midwest where I grew up. You know, you're
just not exposed to as much information. At least when
I was growing up, you didn't have you know, cell phones,
you didn't have the Internet, you didn't have all this
stuff at your disposed. And now you have chat, GPT
and all this other stuff that's you know, becoming center

(32:45):
line for you know, the industries and stuff like that.
People are getting information, not necessarily the best information, but
they're getting information. So it's it's there for the taking.
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
So a lot of actors who are listening to this
episode of the podcast, they're going to be training themselves
just to stay in shape for for roles, whether it
be theater or commercials or feature films.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
It.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, but they will have their own they don't have
their own diet and their own schedule that they designed
for themselves, which might not be the best. It might
be the best they know to do. But how do
you approach design and a program that balances performance, safety,
and results.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
It's really geared towards you know, honestly testing early on,
like seeing what is missing or seeing something identifying an
issue that could potentially become a bigger issue, which which
could be something that you know that it's it's a
scary process, honestly, like the amount of of of responsibility.

(33:45):
When you have a production company calling you up and
saying we're going to pay you, We're going to invest
in you to get that person to look like that,
you know, it's like it's there's no guarantees in there,
and the potential for you know, the risk is so high.
If I think, if you sit and think about that,
you'd have so much anxiety about it, you probably just

(34:05):
not even do it. I mean, it's it's it's tough.
But yeah, you know, most most of the population and
most of the actors. You know that, I know you're
only going to see, you know, the guys that at
the top of the you know, the Crime of the
Krim de la Krim. You know that there's not that
many of them, you know, to be honest with you,

(34:26):
I mean it looks like it because of the movies
and there's tons and tons of characters, but ultimately there
it's it's a small percentage one two percent of actors
out there that have the you know, have reached a
level where the production company is like, we're gonna invest
in and bringing on a trainer. And it's happening more
now than it ever has. It was much much harder
to get your foot in the door and you know,

(34:50):
have the trust of production companies and things like that,
because they don't like investing money into something that doesn't
pay off, you know, or it doesn't work. They want
more guarantees, you know. And that's a man, it's it's
it's tough because I just want to tell these guys
every time the production companies have been like, look, there
is no guarantee. I don't you know, necessarily, I don't
want to work with people that don't have the ability

(35:12):
to have a discipline and and and you know, the
commitment to what it's going to take. And you have
to have that conversation with them. And if you can
kind of get a sense that they're not really going
to do it, then you don't do it. You just
turn the project down. I've turned down a lot of
projects because a we're not given ample time, it's unrealistic expectations,
or you got a person that you could just tell,

(35:33):
isn't It's very telling, and you know, it's very easy
to figure out that these aren't the people that are
going to, you know, do the work that you asked
for to have the discipline that you're going to need
to get to the results.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
When you say the discipline, do you mean they'll come
to the gym, for example, and they'll work with you,
but that's only a limited amount of time they have
with you.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Discipline is far spanning. It's it's it's a sacrifice, you know,
like like you're you're you're committing to changing, you know,
down to the cellar level, right, You're you're committing to
this change, and not a lot of people have those
that ability to make that that complete, you know all

(36:16):
in so to speak. You know, Jake Jollenhaal is someone
who you know has a tremendous amount of discipline and
you know, like when he's focused on on a goal,
it's it's gonna happen. You know, you just know that
that's going to happen because he puts everything into it.
And that's a very rare and unique individual, you know

(36:39):
who when you go into it, you're like, oh, this
is gonna be fun because I can throw everything at
this guy that I know is going to make the
changes that that he needs, and he's gonna do it.
And you know, like, yeah, we might, we might bitch
and moan a little bit, but I think that's fun.
Part of the process. It was getting to the point
where you bitch and moan, and then you get over
over that. You know, you realize that this wasn't bad.

(37:01):
You know, two months down the line, what we're actually
doing is much more you know, painful, so to speak,
than what we're doing at this point.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
So, Jason, it's clear your approach is rooted in science,
but also in integrity and purpose. How do you stay
grounded in those values when working in such high pressure environments?

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Can I blame it on age at this point? I
turned fifty at this at this point, and I don't know, listen,
I you know, I've gone through you know, I've grown
up in the industry, you know, my thirties, especially early
on in my twenties, it was more of a you know, fitness,
bodybuilding transformation type ideology. And then when you get into

(37:42):
when I was in my thirties, it was much more
rooted in performance and resiliency, you know, and I've just
grown up in the industry, and I think that I've
made plenty of mistakes and I'm human, and you know,
like I'm just I just believe in myself and I
believe even helping people, I keep I try to keep that,

(38:03):
you know, as as much as we can deviate from
our purpose, sometimes we have to go down these other
roads to figure out who we are because we're also human.
Growing up, we're trying to discover things about ourselves and
and be a better person and involve that evolution. And also,
you know, paralleling with your with your with your personal

(38:24):
evolution is evolving in your in your in your workplace.
And that's a tough thing to do. And that's why
so many people leave, you know, what they're doing, because
they're they're gonna involved, and they're gonna be a different person,
and that different person doesn't necessarily mean that it aligns with,
you know, what they're trying to do with work. You know,

(38:45):
I just never wanted to be the person that was
stationary and sitting at the desk or being in you know,
I just don't want to be that person. I just knew.
I'm I kind of grew up feral in a way,
you know, like my mom was just like go figure
it out, you know, like make mistakes and take care
of yourself and then just be back in time for dinner.
You know. It's not yeah, you know, like it's kind

(39:06):
of it's great, but it's also it's it's I don't know,
that's dangerous. You know, you can get into get into
some pretty dark stuff when you're you're left to your
own devices, you know.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
True and your product that's such a unique name, can
you share a story behind it?

Speaker 1 (39:23):
It's it's it's kind of ironic in a way because
I don't know, Look, it's more of a I think
my friend at the time was is Josh my my
business partner now? And when I originally reached out to
him about potentially doing you know it, the goal wasn't
to bring something to the to the commercial side. The

(39:45):
goal was to create something that everybody's I realized that
there was a lot of issues that people just kind
of looked over when it came to protein supplements, right,
because it's it's it's critical to make sure that the
boy's getting in a protein for the recovery side and
building tissue and muscle and strength, all these things. You know,
the body utilizes protein, and it's also just it's just

(40:08):
forced down or throws. Now it's a very trendy word,
and I don't want to do things that are trendy.
You know, that's not who I am. But I realized
there was just such an issue with the with people
having you know, digestive problems, issues with protein. And it's
because it's it comes from an animal product, right, It's

(40:30):
a byproduct of making cheese. That's what protein powder is.
So they go in, they make cheese, they curl the
milk into you know curls, they take the curd and
use that to make cheese, and then what was left
over is all this liquid that was being thrown away. Well,
somebody figured out that you could dry this liquid and
it had a high protein content to it, and so

(40:53):
you know, it's like an Aha moment. And of course,
you know, they come out with weigh proteins. It's now
you're getting weight ie that they're having to figure out
ways of changing weight protein and take out certain elements
that are causing these major gastrile intestinal issues. So it
has a lot of problems. They've refined it, and they've
come up with some better products now that are much

(41:15):
more suitable for digestion. Yeah. You know, so when I
reached out to my friend Josh, who knows a lot
about this stuff, and I just said, listen, this is
something I've identified. Can you make Can you help me
make something? Can you come up with a formula? And
it just let us down this rabbit hole. And once

(41:35):
we started peeling the linion back into the world of supplementation,
but you know, primarily weight or proteins. You know, you learn,
you start learning a lot about this and realize that
there's nothing in a market that is saturated. It's just
saturated with generally the same kind of crap that's just
you know, as a new marketing scheme, a new label,

(41:59):
and so you realize there's also an enormous opportunity to
create something that's really great, and you know that that
kind of just it was that discovery it became. It
was fascinating, to be honest with you. I mean, I
knew a lot about proteins and you know, just from

(42:19):
just from you know, textbooks and college and whatnot, but
I didn't know as much as I thought I did.
And it became like a very fascinating subneking topic. And
it's also like, look the industry is now you start
really realizing that this stuff bleeds into politics. And how
is it bleeding into politics? Well, the dairy the meat industry,

(42:42):
you know, like they have lobbies and they have people
that lobby politicians, you know, like they have such an influence,
there's so much control and they do not want people
to realize that you can get a full protein which
is just as powerful and useful as a wave protein

(43:03):
or an animal protein, and it does the same thing.
It actually does more for the body because of the
polyphenols and if you know, it fights disease and you know, uh, inflammation,
all these other things, and it's clean. It's generally better
for the bodies cleaner, you know. And take it from
somebody that grew up on a farm, you know, like
I grew up working on a farm and you know,
so I'm not trying to get people off of off

(43:27):
of you know, animal products. That's not my goal. My
goal is to bring something that everybody from you know,
from you know vegans to people that are you know,
animal base and having issues with digestion. It's just it's
it's nice to give the body an opportunity to kind

(43:52):
of reset, and utilizing our protein is something that it
really helps the body overall with overall health. It can
give the body a break from having to work with
you know, to to break down these wave proteins. And
it's a very big protein. It's a it's a it's
a tough protein to digest sometimes. I've been taking protein settlements,

(44:16):
you know, since the eighties, so I know all about it,
and I know that you know, you take in a
certain amount of protein and man, you're you're the last
person in the room. Nobody wants to be around you.
You just it's just it's it can be pretty disgusting.
So all this talk about, you know, the upper end
of what how much protein you can actually take in,
they're missing the point. You know, like the body is

(44:38):
not going to digest one hundred grams of protein. And
I mean it will eventually, but I mean ultimately you're
really gonna you're really gonna screw things up in your
gut and and you're gonna drive people away from you.
It gets pretty gross.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
So as to be clear, when you say you're going
to drive people away from you, do you mean like
you'll be passing wind a lot around people.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
Yeah, okay, yeah, it's really tough on the digestive system.
And yeah, you know there's a lot of gas and
bloating and things like that. It's and and a lot
of times people think that that's just kind of normal,
and it's really not. It's not something that's that that
you should have to go through every time you're you know,
you're taking your protein supplements. You want something that's that's

(45:21):
you know, readily used and you know, expertite through the
system and and you know it doesn't have to be
you know, gas and bloating and all of these you know,
uh issues that come with with proteins. So that that
that that's the long winded explanation of how why we

(45:42):
started three eleven Josh anyways, you know he he he
said it took him probably you know, it was over
a year of figuring out the formula that we came
up with today. You know, if you think about you know,
finding the the being radients, resourcing the ingredients, having to

(46:03):
do all of these different formulations and coming up with
a perfect formula that you're really happy and proud of,
and you think other people are going to like and
I had the best lab you can you can never
ask for is my my studio here in West Hollywood.
I would just make the protein and have people try it, so,

(46:24):
you know, eventually you get to a point and they're like, no, no, no, no,
this is incredible. No, this is incredible. You've got to
get this out on the market. This is incredible. So
you start to get that feed then you know, constantly
get that feedback, and we think it took approximately three
hundred eleven tries. It's a little easter egg thing, you know.
And then we decided to like make it a small
batch situation, which was nobody has done small batch in

(46:46):
protein right. The reason why we do small batch is
because we can test and we can stay on top
of quality, make sure that the quality is absolutely at
the highest every single batch that we make. Most of
the time, the batches, the batches of protein that you're
buying from generally speaking China is tainted with heavy metals, pesticide,

(47:07):
all these kinds of things you're having a lot of.
I mean, it's it's very tainted. It's very cheap because
they buy huge batches of these proteins and they put
them Now there's the whole putting protein in everything, you know,
and again it's just a way of manipulating people. It's
not because they're out to help people get healthier, because unfortunately,
the science tells us that people are generally not healthier.

(47:31):
There's a very small percentage of people that are making
changes and being healthier, yes, but for the most part,
I mean, at least here in America, everybody's still getting fatter.
And it's probably because they think, well, I've got you know,
protein in this, you know, in the bag of chips,
so I can I can eat that, and I'm gonna
get you know, I'm gonna apply the apply the protein

(47:53):
from the chips into my overall diet and it's it's
I'm leaning towards healthier lifestyle. But in term, they're genuinely
just you know, they're being lied to. You know. Yes,
it's a it's a it's tough, and they were getting savvyer. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
And lastly, sorry, if you could go back and give
one piece of advice to yourself before launching your product,
what would it be?

Speaker 1 (48:23):
So man, you know what, I'm to be honest, I'm
really proud because I started Rise movement, my personal training
business here in Los Angeles twenty years ago. I did
it all on my own. I funded it. I didn't
have a background business, so you know, there was you
have to find out things hard with and the more

(48:44):
you pull the you know, purely on you back, the
more layers you realize in the world of business there's
a lot of people out to take advantage and I'm
it was pretty naive when it was young. And you know,
the same thing with Rise Nation, in the other company
I started, and with Rise three eleven, I have two

(49:04):
other partners, and I realized how important, how nice it
is to have somebody, to have partners that will help
you share the responsibilities and we really do a good
job of I know what I'm here to do in
this In this company, Josh knows exactly what he's doing,

(49:26):
and my other business partner, Ian, he knows what he's doing,
and we as a collaboration are a really good team.
And I've never had that before because I didn't know,
you know, So when it comes to creating companies, it's
just it's also just nice to have people that are,
you know, in it for the right reasons, that are
have the same goal and it's a good and it's

(49:46):
nice to have people to collaborate with, so I think
more on the business side, because that's something that I
that I fall short in comparatively. It's just nice to
share that responsibility and how other people's input and ideas
and be open to that. To be honest, I come
to you understand. Yeah, So it's not really about anything

(50:09):
other than for me, it was like, you know, it's
just I have such a an appreciation and you know,
for for my my partners. You know, it's just it's
it's a different, completely different world and a completely different feel. Yes,
I've heard multiple times people getting screwed by their partners
in business, so you know, it's it's it's not always

(50:32):
a slam dunk. But with these guys so far, it's
been great. And I want to learn how to navigate
this field and get get this protein into more people's
hands so they can at least try it, you know,
like give me some feedback, let me know what you
guys think. You know, we we've done all of the
all the work to to you know, the research and

(50:52):
formulation and all this other stuff bringing this to UH
to the public for a good reason, and UH, I
don't know. I think that just getting that that word
out there, that's the next step is like, how do
we do this and how we do it well with
integrity without selling out. You know, it's a it's a
tough tough world to navigate.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
It, Sun he is, And I'll be putting the link
to your products and everything else I can about you
in the show notes for people to check out and
read about you a bit more and learn a bit
about you a bit more too. Also, So, Jason, thanks
so much for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate
talking to you and learning about your journey.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Fit Na.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Yes, same time, you're welcome back on.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
Sure, let's do it. Yeah, We'll figure something else out
to talk about. I'm going to thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
So I'll be thinking of what we spoke about and
trying to get more but changing mindset, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
People. If people want and they're interested, listen. You know,
we're a small company. It's three guys. You know, we
don't have manufacturing in Europe yet, but Ian, my business partner,
lives in Scotland and he's more than happy to help
try to get people, you know, try to get this
product into people's hands even internationally. He's going to kill

(52:08):
me for saying this because it's gonna be a lot
more work for him. But you know, we really really
are truly passionate Dougles, and we'd love for people to
try it and give us feedback. You know, reach out
to us, go to the website right us through lovean
dot com and you know, reach out to customer service.
That's that that customer service is in So please flood

(52:28):
his inbox.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Yeah that everyone that's a Buddy's inbox. Jason, thanks again
and we'll definitely speak so anytime.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
As a podcast host, I'm always looking for products that
fuel long recording days and hectic schedules, and field fuel
meals generally deliver. I tried their bikes in Chili and
was blown away. It tasted homemade, I was packed with clean,
nutrient dense ingredients and kept me full without that heavy

(52:57):
crash you get for most packaged foods. What impressed me
most is that these meals aren't just convenient. They are
chef developed, designed for everyone from special forces to weakend warriors,
and built on regenerative beyond organic ingredients, whether you're on set, traveling,
or just need a reliable option between interviews. Like me,

(53:18):
this is the kind of ready to eat fuel that
actually matches the lifestyle of creatives and professionals on the dog.
I have more information about the company in the chow notes.
Thanks again for listening to Filmmaking Conversations with me, your
host Damien Swabey, and big thanks to Jason for cutting
through the hype and sharing a known nonsense road map

(53:41):
to build in strength, capacity, and resilience that creatives can
actually use. If this episode helped you, please follow, rate,
and share the show. Until next time, keep learning, keep creating,
and keep moving forward.

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