239. Connecting The Link Between Performance And Vitality with David Lindsay

So look at your nutrition, look at your hydration, look at your physicality because emotion is led by motion. Walk with power, passion and purpose. Don't slump around. And you know, that's a few little tips that guys can use straight away. Music. It's available at all times. Utilize it.

Hey, I'm excited today to have on David Lindsey. David is a vitality coach, international keynote speaker, author, an award winning expert around well being. For over 15 years, David has been a full time personal trainer and has changed the lives of tens of thousands of people throughout the world. He has been assessed about changing the way we view health and vitality through the disruption of how we see the links between fitness and workplace productivity. He has dedicated his life to living the healthy lifestyle and truly believes that anyone can transform themselves to learning his Olympians in the everyday person. David believes that true fulfillment of career, business and life starts with one's own health. And I have to tell you, if you feel like you need some energy today, this is the guy you want to listen to. I was blown away by David's positivity, the energy he brought to the interview and just his story around his former athletic endeavors. You know, it's not every day a man loves to play sports like rugby, boxing, wrestling, arm wrestling. Sports that require a lot of brute strength, but more importantly, a lot of mental fortitude. And David talks about his journey through those sports and how he uses the lessons he learned from his time in those athletic endeavors to help businesses create a more energetic workforce today. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Like I said, you need a boost of energy. This is the episode for you. So, David Lindsay, I introduce you to the man who is helping improve energy in the workplaces throughout Australia and beyond. Enjoy.

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the Bullpen sessions. I am excited to have David Lindsay join me today. David is coming to us live from the opposite side side of the globe down in Sydney, Australia. David is a successful, well being, expert, keynote speaker, author and award winning coach and all around just a damn good guy. So David, I am excited to have you on the show. Welcome aboard.

Thank you very much, Andy. And I'm super excited and super pumped up to have this conversation with you and hopefully give your listeners something that they can take away and implement straight away. I love the whole idea of this podcast about athletes, both while they they are athletes and post sports. We have such a long time after sports and that's a very important part that's forgotten about.

Yeah. So here's why I want to take Today's episode with you and why I think it's very pertinent to this audience is we often bring on former, current or former college pro athletes to talk about the success they had on the field, how they're applying that success off it. And I think when. When I use the phrase all the work you're putting in off the field, when no one is watching, a lot of people immediately think of athletes and they don't tie it and what that means for them in everyday life in the workplace. And that's what I wanted to bring you on as a vitality coach. We're gonna connect the link between performance and vitality, how people can put the work in off the field to make sure they're showing up on the field every single day. But before we get there, let's just dive into your past. You're joining us from Sydney, Australia, where it is the beginning of winter.

Of.

Of folks up in the States, at the beginning of summer. But just briefly, we're going to talk, we're going to dive into the specific sports you play because I want everybody to hear it. But just give us a glimpse of how sports impacted your childhood in Australia.

Well, growing up in Australia, sports is everywhere. So right from when I was a little kid, I think I started playing T ball and soccer when I was in kindergarten at school because I've always been competitive. I've got an older brother and a younger sister, but I was always competitive with my older brother. So we played soccer because my dad was originally. Well, he's from England. And he goes, you're going to play. He called it football, I call it soccer. And he goes, you're going to play soccer like a dimensional sport. But even though I'm a small guy, I got into rugby league when I was in year seven at school, and that is really where I found my footing because like I said, I did play table, I did play baseball. I was ranked number two in New South Wales when I was in the under 12s. But then my attention sort of went across to rugby league. I grew up in the Cronulla district. And even though, like I said, I'm a little guy, very competitive and very mentally strong, I got picked up by South Sydney, which is one of the most famous rugby league teams in. In the world for rugby league. And I went across to them when I was 15 and was very successful with them, playing with some fantastic players, guys that went on to play for Australia, play in New South Wales, state of origin, and some guys that are in the future going to be considered some of the greatest players. And unfortunately, while I was playing there, I suffered a knee reconstruction when I was 17, which, you guys know the importance of having knee stability. But I went and got it repaired, and I used that time to come back bigger, to come back stronger, and got back into playing for South Sydney. Unfortunately, when I was 21, I suffered my second knee reconstruction. And I always said to myself, if I suffer a second one, that's going to be it. So straight away, the rug got pulled out from underneath me from having a rugby league career, which that is where my heart and soul have been since I was 14 or 15 when I got taken across the South Sydney. And I'm sure many of you guys can relate to having that dream. Driving for, driving for it, and being on the cusp of getting there, only for it to be ripped out from underneath you.

Yeah, my story is a little different, David. You know, it was my childhood dream to play professional baseball, and I actually got the opportunity to play, you know, in the. For the organization that I grew up rooting for, the Milwaukee brewers, because I grew up in the state of Wisconsin. And when I got there, it wasn't. It was ripped away from me. I didn't reach my full potential. I didn't give it my all. And that's something that still, I hate to use the word haunts me today, but I could only imagine what it would be like to have it ripped away from you. Because, man, I got to ask, like, I've never played rugby. I just.

You.

You watch it on TV and it's just a bunch of dudes literally beating the. Out of each other. I mean. Yeah, what is that like? Especially when you're playing rugby at that level and you're playing against some of.

The meanest men and they're monsters. Yeah, they're absolute monsters. I love it. I really did. I loved it. The fact of being able to overcome these obstacles where people go, david, you're too little. David, you're like, I love that. The challenger that was put to me and I played against, like, guys that they are men. Mountain. They're six. Six. They what to 120, 130 kilos, which. What's at about 280 pounds or whatever. And they know how to move. So being able to play against those guys, I just love the physicality of it and like I said before, the mentality of it. So being able to use my strength, use my mindset to overcome bigger guys as well, and that has really helped me so much moving forward. In life post football, like, I'm still a super competitive guy. You're hopefully never going to take that away from me in anything I do. And with that, after I finished playing rugby league, I was at my most, I think about 95 kilos, so a little over 200 pounds. Not the biggest bloke, but I played hooker, which is in the middle of all the big guys. But then a bloke came up to me and asked me if I'd ever done arm wrestling before. And this was a bloke, completely out of the blue. I didn't know who he was, but because I was a lot bigger back then, and I go, yeah, who doesn't do it for drinks at the bar? And he goes, how do you go? And I told him when, when I arm wrestle for drinks, I don't buy drinks. And I just laughed it off. And he goes, have you thought about competing in arm wrestling? I never even knew it was a sport, let alone competing in it, so. And he gave me his card and he was the president of the Australian Arm Wrestling Foundation. So I went. Went to his place and started learning and again using my strength, using my mindset, using technique to get into arm wrestling. And I was going really well at that. I was training fantastically well. I was beating guys that were bodybuilders. I was beating guys that had been doing arm wrestling for a while. And I was on my way over to the States to go in some professional arm wrestling tournaments, which six months before I never even knew existed. But I went over to Corfu, a little island in Greece from mate's wedding, and was arm wrestling against his brother, who's also a mate of mine, and I got him down and because he had his wrist cocked up, they wouldn't give me the win. So I went. They started counting down. 5, 4, 3. I turned my body and.

I heard a snap and I thought, oh, no, I've broken the bar. Unfortunately, what happened was I snapped my humerus.

Oh. And if you're watching the video right now, you can see one hell of a scar on your bicep. Wow.

So I broke that. And that was the end of my arm wrestling career before it even started. The worst thing with that, though, was when me and my girlfriend at the time, she's now my wife, so she's. She stuck through me, through all these injuries, through the knee reconstructions, through the broken arm and. Yeah. So we had to stop our around the world trip, come back to Australia and get it operated on. What happened during the operation? They Put a plate in the arm. My arm became paralyzed. So. And it was four months where I couldn't use my arm. I got tests done on it to see how the nerves were firing. And the person who took the, who put the needles in my arm go, david, I'm sorry. It appears the nerves are shriveled up and dying. And straight away, that was the worst part that I can remember being in because I started as a personal trainer. I was an athlete from when I was a kid. I was a coach, I was a trainer, and all of a sudden I couldn't use my arm. So who's going to want someone that can't use their arm? My myself was lost. I, like I said, I've grown up as an athlete. That was who I am, who I was, and it still is who I am to this point about being an athlete, being a coach, being able to train, be strong physically, mentally and emotionally. But all of a sudden it got ripped from underneath me and I went into some dark places. Not for very long, mind you. Only for about like two days. But it was the longest two days of my life. I was lucky. I had a support network around me that sort of built me back up and go, David, you've overcome so many things. This is just something else that you, you can overcome it. So I went and I tried all the, Whatever people would throw at me, I tried to get it back. And then eventually I got a little bit of movement back. And I was so excited when that happened. And it just gave me that new lease on life. I've been given another chance. But at this point, I was still only 22, 23. What now? So I'm always looking for what can I do? And where I did my cert 3 cert for in fitness training across the road, there was a kung fu school. So when. And I, I thought, okay, I don't want to go and play chess because I'll probably get so excited, fall off the chair and do an even bigger injury. So when. And I did kung fu, I did jiu jitsu, I did kickboxing and I did wrestling and then that again, my competitive juices were flowing, going. It wasn't good enough just to get another belt, just to get a black belt. I wanted to see how that would work in real, real life. So from that and spending hours and hours and hours working with my, specifically my wrestling coach got in and I did some jiu jitsu tournaments and had some cage fights. So I got into MMA and then did that and that and that, that's where all my five steps towards improved vitality really came from. It was built when I was younger through the sports and especially into rugby league against these monsters. But spending time with my wrestling coach, that's where it really found form and that's where we realize that there's a gap between the or there's similarities between the sporting world and the business world and in the business world and in life after sports, that's when we can really have so much impact. That's where we can take the skills that we've learned there and bring them across and share them with everyone to help raise their vitality, to help raise morale, productivity, and in business, raise profitability as well. So my coach was big on David. You can make it so far in sports, but there's a time factor. What's going on beyond sport? How can you make more of an impact? He said, I was a leader amongst the fighters and many of your listeners would be leaders amongst their peers. But looking beyond sports, I know it's hard to see in that time because in that time you're so focused on being the best footballer and the best baseballer, the best basketball, the best fighter that you can be. But what happens post sports? And then that got me thinking and then got me into speaking as well. I went and saw Eric Thomas, who still to this day is my favorite speaker to watch. But I went to one of his events in Sydney and I actually, like, won.

A ticket to a speaking boot camp. Now, I never knew of speaking as a professional, obviously knew of Eric Thomas, because that's where I got it. I knew of Tony Robbins, Les Brown, and I thought these guys would. They were gods in my eyes. I had no, no point being on the stage with them. But same as with football, same as in any sport. Like you said, it's hours and hours and hours in darkness, practicing when other people asleep, practicing when other people would rather go out with their friends, practicing when other people are just doing anything. But practicing is what gave me the skills, what gave me the confidence to really step up on the stage. And not just step up on the stage, but give fantastic performance and really share my message. To raise your vitality.

Well, yeah, I mean, there is so much to unpack there because, you know, having you come on the show, as I said at the beginning, we normally interview, you know, former college pro athletes. But your story of athletics is actually pretty profound. I want everybody to hear, like, the sports you participated in. Right? Like as a kid, you played baseball. Okay, great. Every kid played baseball, right? You're. It sounds like you were very good at it. And when I think of Australian baseball, the first name that comes to mind, being a Milwaukee Brewer fan is Dave Nielsen. He played in the Milwaukee. Played for the Milwaukee brewers as an Australian. But then you got into rugby.

Yeah.

Arm wrestling. Wrestling and kung fu and boxing.

Yeah.

I. I gotta ask, man. I'm just curious, like, what. What gives you, or what gave you that desire to get in sports where you're literally beating the heck out of yourself?

It's funny. I think it really is. The way that I grew up. I grew up with an older brother, and the way that I proved myself is. And also being a relatively little guy, like, I use that to my advantage. Whatever I do, I try and see what can I take from it, what advantages can I have? Because being a smaller guy and being interested in training, right from when I was young, like when I was in year one or year two at school, I begged my parents for a weight set. What kid that's 7 or 8 years old wants a weight set? And I wore them down and wore them down, and eventually they got one for me for Christmas. And I was such a happy kid. Santa had listened. My parents didn't bring it, but Santa bought me that weight set. And then, like, as I grew up, I just kept that mentality of, people say that I can't do this. How can I prove them wrong? And it's that mindset of constantly going, like, yeah, no, I know I can do it. I'm just going to show them how to. And it's a mental resilience, which it seems to be. When people are given everything, they lose that resilience. They lose that ability to look at tough situations, and not as a being a barrier, but being something to overcome. So I think that's really what it is, because when I told people that I was going to go in cage fighting, they go, david, you. You're not an aggressive person. And I go, I'm not. But it's a sport. You have to be able to realize that it's a sport, and we're here to train. We're training hard. When I spar, I spar hard. When I wrestle, I wrestle hard. When I fight, I fight hard. Because all part of the sport, when I speak, I speak with passion and purpose, and it's all of that. It's finding your passion, finding your purpose and using it, driving forward, utilizing the skills that people may see as a disadvantage. Using them as an advantage.

Yeah, I love that. I'm curious, because you know, I love what you said about the. Oh, yeah, just watch. Because I couldn't have described myself that way 20 years ago, but today, I love when people do doubt me because it's. It's that attitude of, like, really? All right, watch this.

Yeah.

And. But when you go back to those sports like boxing and arm wrestling and rugby, that people just immediately think of physical strength.

If you had to defi. Like, if you had to categorize or. Or give me percentages in those sports, how much of it is physical, tactical, and mental? Because I think people think especially something like arm wrestling, it's all strength. There's a mental component to it.

Yeah, it's very much mental. And like. Like you said, an important element is the tactics, is a technique behind it. And especially, like, because I. I spend most of my time doing wrestling and spending time with my wrestling coach. Yeah. With arm wrestling, even getting the setup. And you'll see Devon, he is popular at the moment on YouTube. Devon Larratt. And just the way that he gets in there and he's talking to them as he's arm wrestling, but he lets him get to a certain point and he's begging them to try and waste energy, and he knows he can do it. But because with arm wrestling, whether it's a best of three or best of five, if you can get them to waste energy or you're in a strong technique in strong position, then you can come back and then you beat them the next couple of times, easy. Like I said, I snapped my arm by using the worst technique possible. It's. You actually learn not to turn your body with the first lesson. And that's why there's handles on the table. You want to keep looking at your hand, getting behind it. But with wrestling, that's where, yes, obviously there's physicality, but you break them mentally and you feel their strength go. Because, like I said, I used to fight in the 145, so at featherweight, but I would fight against heavyweights in wrestling and be able to beat them mentally. Like, I do freestyle, I do Greco, I do submission fighting. And with that, you could get them into a position, use technique.

So they're.

They're using all their strength. Their strength dissipates, their endurance dissipates. My technique and my mentality stays. It's probably. Yeah, like, I'd say 50 mental. Because if you go in there, you're this big, buff guy, and yet you come in against someone. You look at the original UFC with Gracie, he wasn't a big jack Guy, he was beating guys that were jacked, that if you were to look at them, just photos, you go, this bloke is going to smash Gracie. But he didn't because he used technique, he used composure, he knew mentally what to do.

I think that's a good takeaway. I think, I think if you can apply the right mental strategy with good tactics, you can take on almost any physical challenge. Right. If you think about you being a smaller guy, even in a sport as beloved as rugby in Australia, playing with guys who are six 285 pounds, technique and a strong mental fortitude is going to let you succeed. Even in a sport like that, where you're not that big. That, that's a really good lesson and I actually love the takeaway. Like in, in a sport like arm wrestling, I gotta believe the, the match can often be won before it even starts. Just with, with how the grip is, is, is, is locked in and set up. Are you out of curiosity, are you still playing any sports today?

So now I, I do still train, like, I train a lot. I, I love training combat sports, whether it's wrestling, boxing, you know, stuff like that, to still test your physicality. But no, I'm not playing sport. Oh, sorry. I, I am, I'm playing league tag, which is, it's an old person's version of rugby league. But I still, I, I'm not really that good at it because I'm too physical. I still go in and I do little bumps and I love when they bump me because it's just, that's who I was for so long. It's hard. I can't unswitch that competitiveness, nor do I want to because so many people are happy just to turn up. I'm not. I love turning up. But then I'm going to do what I can with everything I do. And that, that's a thing that, you know, you, that I use against my strength. Some people go, oh, you're too competitive, David. Look, you break your arm. Arm wrestling, you've done your knee playing rugby league. And I go, no, I know, but what can I do to get out there with speaking? How can I be the best speaker? And then that is a drive to keep improving, to watch the great guys that are out there, seeing what they do, taking what works, discard what doesn't. How do they use a stage? How do they use their voice, the speed, the, the tone, the volume. And that all comes into it using competitiveness to my advantage, not as a disadvantage. And that, that's why I believe that you and many of your listeners as well, still have that competitive edge. Like chatting with you and seeing. Seeing the passion in your face as well. Talking about baseball, talking about all this sort of stuff and even life beyond sport is to take that with you, take the lessons from sports with you. Not just to be a mediocre person, because really, we were never mediocre when we were playing sports. So why accept that now? Become the best version of yourself and then improve. And then improve on top of that.

Yeah, no, I agree. Two things I think, define the successful athlete. Number one, it's that competitiveness and probably more competitive with themselves than they are with anybody else. And the second thing is that constant thirst to be a student of the game.

Yes.

It's. It like what tells me you're a student of the game. Because I did the same thing when I wanted to get into speaking. It wasn't, oh, I'll just start standing on stages and speaking. No, I'm going to sign up for an academy.

Yep.

So I can become a better speaker. I'm gonna study from the greats. I'm going to hire a coach, because I don't want to just be another speaker. I want to be the best speaker I could possibly be. And it sounds very similar to your story, because let's. Let's dovetail now. You're no longer beating the crap out of people, and they're not beating the crap out of you. Now, you know, as a vitality coach, let's start there. Like people here, you know, I'm a life coach. I'm a. I'm a health and wellness coach. Talk to us about what's a vitality coach.

Yeah, well, you see people that come in, like, they come into work, they. They mope in. They don't even walk in. They mope in. They clock on. They go to their little cubicle, they sit there, they're hunched over. In other words, we want to raise vitality, which gives people vim, vigor, passion for what you do. And there's so many different elements that you can really help elevate that in instant. Like when, when you came on. Like, we all have our mobile phones with us in within arms reach just about 24 7. Play music on that music is such a powerful tool. Like, I had a remix going on, not I was getting ready for this. And, like, I'm doing it standing up. Every time I do an interview, every time I do a podcast or a talk, I do it standing up because I use my body. And when you see People walking, their head down, their shoulders slumped. If that's the way that you walk, how you expect it to perform at your peak, you can't take a deep breath like that, let alone perform at your peak. So I tell people, walk with power, passion and purpose. In my talk as well, I finish off with. Well, I start and finish with a question and then with an example. I ask if people know who the most successful international sporting team is. And I'll ask you, Andy, do you know who that may be?

My, My first, My first hunt should probably be one of the soccer teams from England, like Manchester United, But I'm going to guess that's not the answer.

No, it's the All Blacks Rugby Union. And I talk about routines and rituals as well, the importance of that. And what, what's a, what's a ritual that they do before each game? I'm sure you know it over there in the States.

Is that the. Yes. What do they call that? The haka. Yes.

Yes, the haka. And I say it's known all around. It's known in America, it's known in Singapore, it's known in Asia, and it's known in Australia. And then at the end we play the hacker. Because what people don't realize as well is if they watch it, the evolution as well. It's not the same Kamate. Kamate, which it was so many years ago. They tapped and evolved with that. So now it's Paul Pango. So. And the way that they do that, they do it with power, passion and purpose. So what I get our guys to do is to do a power move where you start with physicality. You do something physical, you do something verbal, which changes you at a mental state. So you stand up, you use the power of music, and then you move around, you get moving first, then you either slap your thighs or slap your chest and they're oh my. So it's like yes and then. And sorry for the listeners out there, but it's just because it makes such a difference.

Yeah.

When you move with power, passion and purpose and everything flows like that. If you sit slumpy, feel something. So. No, that's a simple way that you can change your state. And music.

Yeah, no, it's. You're making me feel guilty today because we just moved and I unfortunately am waiting for office furniture to arrive. So I'm sitting doing this podcast episode, but I have a stand up desk. I normally do it standing as well because as a speaker and as a coach, and I'm sure you can relate to the Energy is completely different when you're standing compared to sitting. And you know, I, I remember listening to Tony Robbins talk about how he, you know, he brings a trampoline with him when he goes and does his lives. Event, live events, because before he takes the stage, he jumps on that trampoline to get himself in that state of. And if you've never seen the haka perform, go to YouTube, go check it out. I mean, if I'm an opposing team, it's intimidating, dude.

Yeah.

And, but, but it's not for the intimidation factor as much as it is the state. It is putting those athletes in a thousand percent. That, that. And that's awesome. So talk about, you know, one of the, the things you talk about is your 5 second way to positively change your state. And you talk about how people do come to the workplace. They're already, I mean, the day hasn't even started yet. They're already slumped over. They're already, they're not even looking forward to the day. And we all know the energy you give off is the energy you get back. So what is the 5 second way for somebody to positively change their state?

Yeah. So you utilize music. Like I say in my talk as well is so many people, you see them on trains or you see them in the car on their way to work, they're sitting in the train slumpy. Why not sit with music on? Use that. Because music can help pump you up or can help calm you down. So utilize music as a tool and use the front entrance of your office, Use the front entrance of your factory as like a marker. So when you come in, like I like to tap on the door frame. Yes. And then do that and walk in. And it's funny, when I have, when you have your headphones on, people start to notice the change as well. And what you can do, it can work both for you and it can work against you. So if you come in with this positive energy, you come in with this vibe, with this vim, vigor, passion, people will start feeding off you and they'll go, what's he doing? What's he doing? I want some of what he's doing. So then 1 becomes 2 becomes 4 becomes 8, and it works in that positive way. Whereas you get people that come in complaining, like you said, it's the start of the day. And you go, andy, how's your day been? And go, oh man, it's a terrible day. You just got out of bed two hours ago and already it's a bath.

Yeah, yeah.

And go, man, how are you supposed to perform at your peak when you. When you're like that. I also. So I utilize music and posture. The Superman pose. Like, you stand tall, and if you can, you face the sun with your eyes closed because the light still gets through there. And you have that going. A couple of deep breaths. You're going to feel fantastic and smile. Appreciate the opportunity that you have today. So many people don't have this opportunity that we have to get up and go to work, to get up and make a difference and also make a difference for ourself as well. Being able to do that, that's such an important element.

Yeah. No, I love that. You got me thinking. I battled.

Some what I would call undiagnosed Raynaud's disease, and it was interesting because Raynaud's is where you lose, like, feeling in your fingers. Your hands get really cold. You have a lack of blood flow to your extremities.

Yeah.

And I was talking to mine. We work with a naturopathic doctor, and I was talking to her about it, like, remedies, because I know one of the prescribed medications you can take is great for Reynolds, bad for your kidneys and liver. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. So what else can I do to. To try to fix this? And there was some. Some, you know, supplements and things. But the one thing she said, she goes, this is gonna sound so weird, but play loud music.

The vibration.

The vibration. And she goes, but singing to that music puts your body in a state that gets the blood flowing.

Yeah.

That will help put the blood flow. And I was like, wow, I would have never thought. And you talk about music.

Yeah.

That's something. I think that is underutilized when it comes to how can we put ourselves in a good mood. Think about how many times you've been driving down the highway, you got the music on, and then you just start belting out the song.

You lose yourself to it.

You lose yourself, and by the time you get home, you're, like, jacked out of your mind. Right. And it's like, how. How can we put ourselves in that situation more often? Now, here's what I'm curious about. Because you help improve vitality in the workplace.

Yeah.

What you just. The advice you just gave is great for that employee walking and slap the door and say, yeah. What can an employer do to support or create that kind of environment in the workplace where it supports the employees to bring that kind of energy? Because, let's face it, I've seen too many corporate environments where people are walking around like the walking dead.

Yeah, yeah. It's a bad place to be as well. So in. And that's where they can help educate both their. Like, not even just a C level, but the middle management as well. Educate them, because the middle management is really the. The. The link between TOP and all of these employees. Educate them, get the teams working together. Because like I said, there's so many similarities between a sports team and a business team. So you break it down into small teams and get them encouraging each other. What you can do before work starts. Get people there. Like, because when you're working with people that you know like and trust, you want to get there early, you want to spend time with each other, you want to go above and beyond and even playing music around. If you have speakers there and, you know, have. Have little breakout rooms where people can go in, they can do their stuff, they can put on their headphones and do that. Creating communication, not just top to bottom, but more importantly bottom to top. So the players to the coaches, the floor staff to the management, open lines of communications that way so that they're heard. And when people are heard, they feel pleased and privileged that they've been able to have a hopefully positive impact on the place of work. So you encourage that. You encourage people to come together and it's not like, let's all sing, sit around and sing Kumbaya. It's not that. You need to create your own ways, your own things as a team that will really help you snap into action. And that's. It does start at home, but then it needs to keep going through work, encourage people to have lunch breaks, to create those corporate teams that go out and maybe they play soccer or play Frisbee or do something during their lunch break to escape the office. And when you escape the office as well, you create those bonds and those friendships outside. And you'll see the bonds even now, I haven't fought for, for a few years now, but the bond that I have with my wrestling coach, with my wrestling partners, with my boxing coach, is still super strong. Because you create it while you're in that stressful environment.

Yeah, no, it's. You remind me. A good friend of mine is a. Is a pit crew coach for one of the NASCAR teams here in the United States. And he was. We. We had a chance to hang out with him a few weeks ago, and he was talking about the fact that they've created such a positive culture at the workplace, which includes, you know, high energy, competing with each other, having a Good time with each other, joking with each other. They have. So they have created that environment for their team that it's gotten to the point where nobody misses days, nobody takes a day off, nobody calls in sick because they're actually afraid of what they're going to miss that day if they're not there. To me, that is the pinnacle of what every workplace should strive for. How can we create an environment where people don't want to call in sick because they're afraid of what they're going to miss?

Yeah. And what you said there as well is competition, like friendly competition amongst each other with, with the pit crews. It's like who can take the tire off, who can put on, who can fuel the fastest. So having friendly competitions and that's one thing where people get wrong because a lot of companies as well, they go, you have to hit this KPI and then if you hit this amount, you're going to get a bonus. But what happens when a person is one or two short of getting their bonus? They snake their teammates in order to get the bonus. So that, that is a way that you can use competition and it works against them. But creating that friendly in house competition really gets people to strive to become a better version of themselves. And what you want to do as well is create this team environment where if someone is excelling, don't keep it to themselves. Share what, what have they done differently as to what's creating them to be so successful? Because if you have one person successful, the value of the team goes up a little bit. So if you create more value in yourself but you help someone else create value themselves, the value of the team will go through the roof. And you should, should feel good that you're helping your teammates, that you're helping your partner alongside of you to get better, seeing that improvement. And it's that constant coaching and mentoring amongst each other as well which really helps elevate the game.

So one thing you talk about is you referenced it as the body weight blueprint. And I think for a lot of people, here's what I don't think enough people in our, in our society think about is, you know, we have become much a, much more, I'm going to call it a self absorbed society where it's not so much what am I doing to make sure my team is operating at its best, how can I contribute to the team? It's, it's become, we've become very much of what's in it for me. And I think a lot of people, when it comes to what they don't realize is if you stay healthy, do you realize the kind of impact you're having on the rest of your team and your organization? Organization. If you put yourself in the best position to win. And I think a lot of people also think being fit, being healthy, eating well is too expensive, it's too hard, it's too much work. But you say it's actually pretty easy, cheap and achievable. Talk about that talk. What, what is the body weight blueprint?

Yeah, because you, you hear all the time. And I heard it when I was working in a gym, when I was personal training people, they go, oh, but David, it's so expensive. And go. It's not. All you have to do is think outside this little box. You can utilize every muscle in your body with just your body. And people look at me and go, what are you talking about? And go, okay, can you do squats? Like body weight squats? You don't need to go and pay, what, fifteen hundred dollars plus a year free gym membership. What you just need is you need to have the mentality of, okay, I'm going to do sets of 50 bodyweight squats and going to do it fast with the right technique. I'm going to do push ups, I'm going to do crunches. You can use a door frame for chin ups. Like you can come to the side. And that doesn't just work through your back, but it also works through grip as well because you're just using your fingertips. If that's your height. You can put a broom on some chairs or on a table and do some pull ups. There's so many different options out there with what you're walking around with. Doesn't cost you anything. And yet you get so much benefit from it. Because as, as I've said time and time again, you move your body with power, passion, purpose. You go, do your push ups, do squats, do your crunches, do your chin ups. Those three things by themselves or four things, sorry, by themselves will just give you that energy. And then you start doing modifications. You start doing walking your feet up and doing shoulder press with your feet against the wall. So walk your feet up, walk your feet down, walk your feet up, walk your feet down. Then that's getting coordination and then you get all of that working and that makes you feel better seeing the accomplishment that you're getting. You might start off only being able to do push ups on your knees, and then you can do it on your toes. Then you can do all different sort of variations you can do smiles, you can do tunneling, you can do Hindu push ups, you can do all this sort of stuff, seeing the progression in your body, the way that you look physically, the way that you feel physically, and also the way that you feel mentally, and it all works towards you. So when people go, I can't afford a gym membership, that's just a cop out. Because we have our own gym with us everywhere we go. And being able to utilize that and working in sets of whether it's 50, whether it's 100, or whether it's time. You know, you might do 45 seconds, as many push ups as you can, and then you get up, you have 15 seconds to do as many squats as you can in 45 seconds. Then how many crunches can I do in 45 seconds? How many chin ups can I do in 45 seconds? You just work in that format. By the time you do four laps of that 16 minutes, you're sweating, you're feeling so much better for yourself. Plus the accomplishment of what you've been able to do.

Yeah.

So it's, it's really just an excuse. It's that mindset. And again, talking with you, Andy, and with the other guys out there being competitive, we do get out there and push it. We do get out there and push it and we push ourselves because, you know, that's how we get better. We get better by putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations and getting comfortable, being uncomfortable.

There it is right there. I mean, take it here from the guy who boxed, wrestled, played rugby, arm wrestle. Be uncomfortable, be comfortable being uncomfortable. And I think you're right. Exercise, being fit doesn't require time, does say, time doesn't require money, it requires commitment. You know, And I think, I think of when I go on road trips and if a gym is not accessible, I'll go out for a run and I'll find a playground where I can do pull ups because there's a bar, I can do dips. Go find the nearest playground and I guarantee you have a gym at your access. You didn't even realize.

Yeah, they got the monkey bars and use that as well to move along and then turn around, move sideways, chin ups. The, the limitation is only your imagination. Like trees. Trees, they've got branches, they've got, they've got a trunk where you can walk your feet up and do your shoulder press, walk out, you know, it's just your only limitation, like I said, is your mind.

So. So as we wrap, updated with the few minutes here that we have left, I'M curious, like, when you look back at your athletic career because you played a lot of sports and a lot of physically tough sports, what lessons had. Have you taken from your past as an athlete and applied to what you're doing today as a coach, trainer, international speaker?

Yeah, well, the big thing, as I just said, is you get comfortable being uncomfortable because the first time, well, you know, when you step up on stage, you're back, you sort of go, oh, man, what have I done? Am I in the right place? But then you get up there and you put on a fantastic show and you go, man, I was meant for this. So you would never get to that point if you don't put yourself in uncomfortable situations. Also, so many people think that stress is a bad thing, because I speak about this in my talk as well, where people go, oh, stress is just a bad thing. It's not. Stress is a great tool when you use it to your advantage. It's like with training, with sports, we don't go 100% for the full 80 minutes. You work in short bursts. So stress plus recovery. Stress plus recovery. And in the weights in the gym, you do that. You, the first time you go to the gym, you do your bench press, you do your squats, you do your chin ups. The next day you're walking around like you're broken. So you've stressed the muscle, the tendons, the ligaments, the bones, the joints. You've stressed them out, but then you give them time to recover. And then you do it again and again and again. And eventually you get bigger, you get faster, you get stronger, you get all of these positive adaptations. So then you have to increase the stress. Your mind is a muscle. Stress is required for growth. So stress. But then give yourself the time to recover. And again, like, I have my headphones just about everywhere I go. I love putting them on. Putting on guided meditation to really just help me relax and tell me escape the stress that's going on. So I put that on for 20, 25 minutes and then I put on some music to get me pumped up and then go again and work in that cyclic format. Stress recover. Stress recover. There's a technique which you guys can go and check out. It's the pomodoro technique, which is you work in short, intense chunks and then you have a break. Short, intense chunks, four times. And then you have a longer break going out, having a lunch break, getting away from the office. It enables you. And you would have noticed I've been drinking as we've been doing this, staying Hydrated is a great way to keep your performance at an optimum because as a Western society, most of us are chronically dehydrated. So look at your nutrition, look at your hydration, look at your physicality. Because emotion is led by, by motion. Walk with power, passion, purpose. Don't slump around. And you know that that's a few little tips that guys can use straight away. Music, it's available at all times. Utilize it.

Yeah, I love that. I know I'm going to just from listening or talking with you today, I'm going to start leveraging music more. That is something that I know brings a lot of good energy to my body and it's like, God, I just don't use it enough. So thank you for the reminder. And I wanted to bring up the fact you brought this up around.

You know, just the mental. I love how you said just like lifting that stress is required to grow your muscles, stress is required to grow your mental muscle. You have to deal with stress in life, but it's how you deal with it that grows the mental muscle. And I think about all the sports you've played in your life outside of rugby, but like boxing and arm wrestling and.

Kung fu, jiu jitsu, whatever it is.

It requires you to get in the ring one on one with somebody else whose goal is to destroy you physically. Right. That takes a lot of mental strength to have to know that that's the goal of your opponent and still get in the ring.

Yeah.

So, David, if somebody's listening in and just got fired up, they're turning their music on, going, all right, let's go.

Yeah.

Whether it's to reach out to you about speaking, reach out to you about coaching. What is the easiest way to find you and get a hold of you.

The easiest way is to find me on LinkedIn, David Lindsay. Or feel free to send me an email as well. I love answering and helping people out where I can. It's Davidavidlinsay L I N D S A Y.com AU and like I said, there's me and a group of us I looking at coming over to the States to do a speaking tour as well. So and I'd love to get over there because I've done up and down the east coast of Australia, I've gone over to wa, but now it's really about expanding more. And just population wise, there's no nowhere bigger for me to go from the States. And I just love to get out there and help as many people as possible because that's My goal in life, and it's probably one of yours as well, is the bigger impact we can have, the more change, positive change we can make, the happier we are. Well, that's what I'm all about.

And I'm sure, David, there's some people who would love to bottle up your energy. So I'm sure there's going to be people reaching out to you. I think energy is everything. I tell people all the time, you don't have to be the smartest person. The content you're teaching actually doesn't have to be life changing. But if you bring the right energy to it, you are going to impact lives. And your energy is off the charts, man. So I absolutely love that. Well, for everybody else tuning in, David, thank you. For those listening in, I hope you got fired up just listening. David, if you go watch the video on YouTube, you're going to really get fired up. But you know what happens. The purpose of this episode is to give you clarity, give you confidence. Because when you combine those two things together, you become unstoppable. I really believe that. And so take what you learned from David today, apply it, tweak it, however you need to tweak it for your life, your happiness, your fulfillment. But man, become unstoppable. This is one way to do it. Because your energy is going to determine your sex and sex, your success in life. Wow. Yes. And your energy and your sex. We'll end it that way, but it's going to determine your success in life. So, David, thank you. Everybody else, be good. Mix that clearing confidence. Become unstoppable. Have a good day.

Sam.