Devon Lévesque: What Facing Death on Mt. Everest Taught Me About Living | TUH #119

I saw my dad struggling with some mental health and he didn't have an outlet. And I come to find out that day, after he dropped me off, he killed himself. And then when I saw what happened, my goal was to help people wake up happier.

It's very impactful to know what someone's driving force is. And it's not that somebody has to have that major of a catastrophic event in their life. But we don't have a lot of time to waste.

I realize my why is I want to live my life without my hands in my pocket. Everyone on this earth is going to go through transitions. The best way I've found for people to transition is to have a good community around them. That's all I'm trying to foster.

I feel like a lot of people are just disconnected from the basics, Mother Nature, community. You're meeting people where they are and giving them a space.

That's my goal, is to calm people's tension in the world by providing these communities.

When you sat down, you were telling me saved by Everest story for this podcast. Tell me about that.

We go out of nowhere. You're in this blizzard. You're like, holy, I might actually die right now.

And how are the guys that were with you?

People are dying.

People literally in that condition who is terrifying.

Get to the top. You could hear a pin drop at the top. Perfect weather. It's so next level. It's a feeling of this crazy energy. I'm happy I did it, but I wouldn't, I would never do it again.

Grinding through the pain of Everest, pushing your body to the absolute limit. You call it do hard. Why should people do hard?

The thing with the brain. Bigger is better. And I'll tell you one thing.

Ultimate human. Today on the Ultimate Human, we're honored to have Devin Levake. He's an extraordinary individual. He's hilarious. He's one whose life exemplifies resilience, endurance and dedication to mental health advocacy. He's known for bear crawling an entire New York City marathon, which set a world record, and back flipping on top of Mount Everest. He pushes his physical and mental limits. And Devin's journey is so inspiring and so transformative. He's a very successful entrepreneur. He's the founder of Sweet Honey Farm, which I love, and an advocate for sustainable family centered wellness. Devin's here to share his philosophies on building resilience, supporting mental health, and his vision for holistic health. We are so excited to dive into the powerful stories and insights that define his approach to life and Wellness. Hey, guys, welcome back to the ultimate human podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brea, where we go down the road of everything. Anti aging, biohacking, longevity, amazingly phenomenal physical feats that you've accomplished. Climbing Mount Everest, bear crawling, entire marathon. But there was something about that marathon bear crawl when I was actually really figuring out who Devin levake was and I went down the devil bake rabbit hole. You know, I stumbled on a talk you did, and it actually just really hit my heart because I feel like very often on this podcast, the most impactful people in the world that are really making great change and really, really affecting a lot of lives have solved the problem in their life. Maybe it was drug addiction, maybe it was the loss of a loved one. You know, maybe it was a bad breakup. Whatever it was this, you know, Lyme disease, they solved the problem and they basically turned that into the most impactful message ever. And you were doing a talk on stage and I heard you say, and I want to dig into this, but I heard you talking about, you know, you. You're going to bear call a marathon. You set a world record for it. And the two questions were how and why. It was your explanation for the why that really brought things home for me because I like to know what's the driving force behind people. And now I know why you're so inspired, you're so passionate, you're so purpose driven. But if you wouldn't mind share. Share that with us. I mean, not just the overwhelming physical feat to bear crawl a marathon, that had to be one of the most difficult things you ever did, for sure. But it was the how and the why.

Yeah, man. Well, one, thanks for having me on here.

Yeah.

Shit. You. You live it, you breathe it, you're doing it. Which I respect.

Thank you.

The how is easy. It's. The how is probably a lot of. A lot of humans listening to this right now. Yourself. The how is so easy, man. Guys, we don't quit. You just don't quit.

Yeah, don't. Just don't quit.

Whether it's your company, you know, founders, companies don't fail. Founders give up, don't quit, Right? Us as humans, we can't quit. That's the how. Just don't quit. But the why is. Is. Is the purpose. The why is a little bit more in depth. And I'm glad that caught your attention because that was a. It's been a core of mine since I was about 16 and. And, you know, I'll take you back. I. I grew up in a small town In New Hampshire, 1500 people, you know, you had to make your own fun. I had a, I had a ski lift half a mile from my house. I grew up fishing, you know, snowboarding, ride my mountain bike. Kind of took it for granted. It was my natural, you know, milking cows. I grew up on a farm and I took it for granted and I, you know, you'd have to make, you'd have to make your own fun and whatever you did. And so me and my buddies, you know, would, would cause problems, cause ruckus, cause, you know, whatever we could to, you know, keep ourselves occupied and you know, I. One night on July 17, 2008, my buddy Maddie and I went into my parents liquor cabinet and said, hey, let's go grab some alcohol and let's drink with the girls tomorrow night. I just turned 16 at the time and I was like, you know, just trying to have some fun as a kid, of course. And so I remember I was going, I went into a liquor cabinet and like any kid, you know, you have this Nalgene bottle and I'm putting like gold Slager and Jameson vodka.

I'm just trying, remember gold. Is that even around anymore? Like with the gold flakes in it. It's, it's literally the hurt in the world.

The worst. And I was just mixing it in and we were so excited and fast forward to the next day. It's summer. So my, you know, I wake up early, 5am, I go to work with my dad who is a drywall contractor. So you know, my job at 16 was, you know, go pick up all the scraps, you know, screw, screw the, you know, screw into the wall, the, you know, the drywall. You know, just pick up, help them out, go grab lunch. And he was always, he was my coach, he was my football coach. He was, you know, he's my best friend and he was always like, dad, keep your hands out of your pocket. There's always something to do, constantly. Get your hands out of your pocket. Go pick this up. Get your hands in your pocket. Go grab lunch. Get your hands out of your pocket. Help me with this. And so, you know, fast forward. He drops me off at driver's Ed. Four hours go by. My friend Maddie's mom picks us up and she said, you know, three words that changed my life forever.

When you got in the car, right?

When I got in the car, she said three words that changed my life. And you know, when, when your friend's mom picks you up, you know, you just got in trouble. And so I had the alcohol and I'm like, this is it. Like, we're in a lot of trouble. And instead she said three words, your father's dead. And, and he, and I was like, what? I start, I was just in shock, man. And I'm like, man, what did I do? Where is he? I start calling him. He wasn't answering. And I, I, he just dropped me off four hours ago. I was just working with him. I was, I was just working out with him yesterday. He was a professional weightlifter and, and I was just like, what the heck just happened? And I, I mean, I must have called him 300 times. I get home and, you know, there's friends, families, everyone's around our house. And I come to find out that day, after he dropped me off, he went and jumped in front of a truck on the highway and he killed himself and took his own life. And so that was the hardest part I've ever gone through in life. When your best friend takes her life and you don't know why. And I, and I was just so confused. And as a 16 year old boy, it was a, it was a pivotal point in my life. And so now, you know, fast forward, you know, to 2020, October 31st, when I started the bear crawl in New York City, started in Brooklyn, and I went the exact route of the New York Marathon. And I'm at about mile 20 and I, I remember stopping and I'm like, man, I got 6, 6.2 miles left in this bear crawl. And I was doing this bear crawl for suicide prevention and mental health. That's, that's why I went into it. That's your why, right? But at mile 20, I realized something. I realized, look, mental health and suicide is a massive cause, but my why is actually how I want to live my life. And I want to live my life without my hands in my pocket.

I love that.

I want to live my life maximizing my time. I want to live my life being curious. I want to maximize my life, seeing what's out there in the world and helping others. And there's always something to do. And so I wanted to live a life without my hands in my pocket.

I love that.

And so as I went in with a purpose and intrinsic motivator, I had extrinsic motivators coming from around. I realized what, what mattered to me, what really mattered to me, and that that was living a life without my hands in my pocket. And I was just, I was just talking to you outside of, I've formed this this mindset, you know, really, in the last five. Five years of the closer a man comes to a combine, the. The near he is to real strength. So the closer you and I can be here now, talk and not think about the camera, think about what's going on afterwards, think about this. That the. The closer you and I can come to that combined, I believe that's real strength. And that's a quote from Marcus Aurelius. I'm not just making this up. It's. It's. It's something that's. That's been around and, you know, I really believe if we can be in the now, we can maximize our time and we can truly live with our hands outside our pocket. Yeah.

I love that man, because it's. It's such a metaphor for life. And I'm sorry I took you there. And that's. It's just that because for me and, and for my audience, you know, it's. It's very impactful to know what someone's driving force is. You know, I had a very, you know, tipping point moment in my life, too, and it changed the direction of my career. And. And then I've had so many blessings bestowed upon me because I became very authent, a very inauthentic life. And now I live, you know, a very authentic life. I'm very conscious, very aware, try to be present.

Right.

But it told me so much about you, and it gives, I think, people a window into what's driving somebody's passion. And, and it's not that somebody has to have that major of a catastrophic event in their life.

No.

But we don't have a lot of time to waste.

No.

And, and, and we got to get off our. Get our hands out of our pockets.

You have 24 hours in a day. I don't care how you split it. If you say I'm. I'm working for eight hours, I see my wife for two, I see my kids for the other two, I'm eating for two. You're not getting that. You're not getting it back. If you want to. If you want to break it down and say, hey, I'm working certain amount and family time. A certain amount. Cool. It's still 24 hours, right? There's still 24 hours. You're not. It's not all of a sudden 20 hours or 24, 23 or whatever, it's 24 hours.

Yeah.

In a day. We're not getting this time back. Do it now. What are you talking about? It's 24 hours. You have to maximize. And, and how can you create a life to where you're happy, to where your purpose. You have a. Why? What makes you happy? What's your, what are your values? You know, so many people have companies and you know, my mission statement, my, you know, my pillars of my company. But what about you as a brand, you as a person, you as a human? What are your values? I live life off of five values and I don't deviate outside of these values. And it helps me de risk my time and decisions I make. Family, community, health, freedom of time and giving back. I do not deviate outside of those five and it allows me to de risk decisions I make and where I go and who I meet with and the people I'm surrounded by by simply having these. My core five. If you're about it, cool. If you're not, that's okay.

Yeah.

Like I just don't have time to waste right now though. Yeah.

You know, and you, you know, and one of the things that I noticed, you know, just sort of following your trajectory and you know, as your impact has grown, you're big on communities, like, you know, regenerative farms. You have run club with Jesse Itzler. You know, you're. I think you're a co founder of Pro Mix, correct? An accurate statement. A co founder of Pro Mix. And you've been really militant about your ingredients. And I think there's a community forming around, you know, that I, I'd love for you to talk a little bit about, you know, building communities because you really do foster this communal sense and it's like you give people permission. I think they don't have to be a super athlete.

Right.

You like to do really hard, climb Mount Everest and bear crawl a marathon. But you're meeting people where they are and giving them like a space to talk a little bit about. I was really fascinated and I, I'm happened to be very jealous of your regenerative farm. But I come business. That's my, that's my next dream, dude. That's right.

Sweet honey farm. We'll talk about it.

Yeah.

You know, community when, when I was younger and I don't want to bring it back to this, but I will. You know, when I was younger and I, I saw my dad struggling with some mental health thing, he was the happiest human on earth I've ever met, man. Like, he was such a man, he was such a giver. He was always given to people, helping, donating. Like, he was such a good guy. And the last Year of his life. I saw him really depressed and he didn't have an outlet. And I would watch him and he was reading the Bible and he was praying. He was trying to do the right thing. And I was just seeing the sorrow on his face. And then when I saw what happened and how that happened, My goal was to help people wake up happier. That was, that's really my goal right now on Earth is to help humans wake up happier.

Yeah.

And so everyone on this earth is going to go through transitions. We went to elementary school for four years, you go to middle school for four years, you go to high school for four years, you go to college for four years. We are taught by society to transition. But what do you do in those transitions? What happens when you enter the military for eight years and you have to go back into civilian life? What happens when you're an Olympian or an athlete and you're making it to the Olympics and all of a sudden 18 years goes by and you get third place and no one remembers you and now you don't have a place in society all of a sudden because, well, you didn't get first and you're not in the military anymore and you're not at this job anymore. What do you do at transition? The best way I've found for people to transition is to have a good community around them. And that's all I'm trying to foster. Whether it's with Pro mix, you know, farm to table supplements and vitamins, whether it's with sweet honey farm, making an area a real space where people are welcomed in and not welcomed in for, hey, let me charge your credit card $50,000. I'm saying, hey, what are affordable ways that everyone can have access, health, mental clarity? Community should not have a barrier of cost. It should have a welcome open arms feel, you know, and that, that's really what I try to encompass with everything that, you know, I create or co create is helping we people wake up happier. I think with Pro Mix it starts from within and we'll talk about it, but it starts with your gut.

Yeah, dude, I had you, I had your, your gut. The, the premium. Yeah, the deep blood, the premium probiotic was amazing. And, and sweetened with organic peaches. Yeah, it was amazing.

Thank you. So it's like, hey, how can we start from within? Let's get your gut right. Let's, let's get your, your blood flowing. Let's, let's get your body right from within. Because we all know that your gut impacts your brain, it impacts your Mood, it impacts how you're reacting to conversations. It, it impacts everything. Your skin. So let's get your that right. And then once we. Once your body gets right, what type of, you know, environment can you be around? And that's why I created Sweet Honey Farm. You know, less than 1% of Americans right now farm or grow their own food. That's crazy.

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That is crazy.

Less than 1% of Americans. Yeah, see that's, that's my. Eventually, that is my dream goal. I actually have a, A map, you know, to get there. I actually plan to sell this beautiful penthouse in Miami and exchange it for a regenerative farm. I actually have a piece of I can't wait already picked out.

I can't wait for you for that.

Yeah, dude, I can't wait either in. In Colorado and, and have, you know, head of cattle and, you know. Yeah, this particular piece of land's got a beautiful stream, glacier fed spring water and just bring people there because I feel like a lot of people are just disconnected from disconnected basics, Mother nature community, you know, other human beings. Like, like we vibed when you first walked in the door.

We hug or.

Yeah, yeah, we actually did the heart hug and. And then we had a really good regenerative meal and then we went and did some pull ups. The muscle up. So I didn't do the muscle up.

We're doing it, but.

Yeah, we're doing it, but it was, it's just so awesome. And I And I. I feel like the temperature in this country would come down if people were back in touch with nature a little bit. Really in touch with, you know, humanity. Not looking for, you know, what's. What's different about your opinion from mine. But, you know, like, what. What are the things we have in common? Like you were saying here earlier, it made me laugh my ass off. You're like, pet a cow, you know. You know, you're real. Yeah. You're out in the garden just shoveling in raw spinach. People forget to, like, act like a kid. And that's.

That's a rule I have. I. I have a rule. Do one thing every day you used to as a kid, you know, keeps you young.

Yeah.

You know, the. The vibes people get when they leave Sweet Honey Farm is clarity, is calmness, is less anxiety. And it's not that I'm, you know, having them do any, you know, crazy drugs or, you know, some, you know, crazy biohack, and I'm all about the future. I'm just saying, take off your shoes. Go ride a horse. You know, jump in a sauna. Jump in a cold plunge. Move a little bit. Yeah, go, go. Just walk around without your phone. Go walk through the garden. You're gonna feel the grounding ripping through your body. And then when you leave and you jump back into society, you're like, wow, this is. I feel a little bit calm. And. And you know, that boss calls you and they're all pissed off. You're not gonna react in a negative way. You're gonna respond in the right way. And that's my goal, is to calm people's tension in the world by providing these. These. These communities. Chromix has an amazing community. Yeah. My values, the health, the freedom of time, the community, the giving back all my family. The values are the core of Promix. My values are the core of Sweet Honey Farm. My values and Jesse Itzer's values are the core of all day running. Like, are. The values are being ingrained into these brands to hopefully build a community and help people, you know, just wake up happier. Yeah.

How did you. How did you get into business with Jesse and start all day run club? I mean, I see this all the time, man.

I'll. I'll give a quick high level, but Jesse messaged me after I bear crawl at the New York Marathon. And then, you know, I went out to his event 29029, where you climb the height of Mount Everest in 36 hours. 4. Four laps into this climb, it's like up 5,000 down. It's. Yeah, you're. Every mountain's different. Yeah, but you're hitting the 29,029ft total elevation. By the way, Everest was 29,029ft ten years ago. It's now 29,032ft. It's gotten tal.

If you were there a few years ago, he beat you by two feet, correct?

Correct. So just want to throw that little out there. But I was out at his event, and in Sun Valley, Idaho, he's a partner and an owner of the Hawks as well. And it'll come full story. And so Hawks on one side of the country, this event on the other side. Four laps in, he texts me, dev, meet me at the lodge. I meet him at. On down at the lodge. He goes, look, we have about 20 hours left in this race or so. If we take. If we take the jet across the country and watch the game, Game six of the playoffs, Hawks watch it, and we can make it back in time to finish the race. And I'm like, I love some adventures, man. Let's go. And so me and some buddies, Jimmy DeCicco, Jake DeCicco, Dan Churchill, we all jump on the plane with him. We fly out to. To Atlanta. We watched the game. We may or may not have had some tequila.

We.

Jesse looks at me, and he goes back on the plane. We get back on the plane. We land in Sun Valley, Idaho, at 3am we finished the race with 30 minutes to spare. No. That was the first 36 hours I ever met Jesse.

That's so cool.

Awesome. Talk about bonding.

Yeah.

Talk about, like, we were just kind of how I came in here and we kind of just clicked, you know, that's how Jesse and I were. And we're. We've always been on the same page, and all day was never about. It's wasn't about money. It's about us having a canvas to bring people together and community. And not creating a running company that has first, second, or third place, but rather creating a running community and a community that says, hey, everyone's welcome. Let's just have a good time. Yeah. You know, let's take the seriousness out of running. We don't at Running, man. The festival we do every year, we don't pick a first, second, or third. Matter of fact, everyone's together helping each other finish their marathon.

Sometimes your things are circular, too, so you can't really tell who's winning. Right.

Yeah. And so, you know, we're. Him and I are just on the same wavelength of, you know, how, how we want to impact people in a positive way. And I think that's, that's kind of how we went into business together.

You know, it's, it's really interesting because there's a lot of research out now about, you know, the impact of physical conditioning on mental health and like the, just the impact of a simple walk. Right, right. And, and versus an antidepressant like an ssri. Like, you know, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are not as powerful as movement for depression.

Interesting.

And, you know, Joe Rogan's talked about this. I'm happy to put it in the links to the research and in the show notes, but I, I so totally agree with you. Because if people would move more, speak more, have more eye contact, get better, you know, back in touch with nature. Not all the time, you know, not everybody has to move to a regenerative farm. But no, once in a while, instead of taking a vacation where you just like, go to Vegas and get blasted and you come back more exhausted than you left, and you need a vacation from your vacation, take like a, a selfless vacation where you actually go and put some hormetic stresses on your body and, you know, hot cold contrast therapy, you know.

What is that word?

Yeah, Hormesis.

Cool. Yeah.

So hormesis is, you know, the, the, you know, it's what happens. It's this scientific term for stressing the body. And it strengthens and response. Right. I mean, you, you tear a muscle, it gets larger, you, you load a bone strength, challenge the immune system.

It, it, Right.

It strengthens, you know, so hormesis is the act of, like, strengthening through cold plunges. Right. Activating brown fat, you know, shivering peripheral vaso.

I call it type 2. Fun for me, dude.

I, I love that term too.

Tell me About Type Type 1. Type 2. Type 3. Type 1. Fun is what? Just doing. We were drinking D. Bloat. Eating some of your food, or laugh. We're joking. We have a good time. We can laugh about it now. We were laughing during. We're always going to laugh about it. It's immediate fun. Type 3 is when I was coming off the summit of Everest, all right, And I'm coming down. I, I just, I'm at 28 and a half thousand feet. There's 50 yards to go. But, you know, coming down in that 50 yards before I go over to the next cliff, there's 100 people in between and there's two inches to step. My oxygen's running out, and all of a sudden I say in My head. Devin, you're likely going to die. This is not fun during. I'm not laughing about it. It is. I'm. What's. What's my girlfriend Nina gonna say at my funeral? What's my mom going to say at my funeral? This is it. I wonder what jokes they're going to make. I wonder, you know, what, what, what my buddies are going to say. That is. It's not fun during. I'm looking at death in the face. I'm seeing where my head's going to hit the rock. I'm seeing where my body's going to end up. That's not fun. That's type three fun. And maybe in a year, and I'm laughing about it now. Maybe that now it's type three. Type one is what we're at before this. Type two is right in the center. Type two is the cold plunge. Type two is. I don't care who you are. Cold, plunging.

Isn't that fun during.

You're like, holy. So this is.

Nobody likes the.

No one's like, oh, my God, I love freezing everything off right now. It's not that fun. But right afterwards, that dopamine rush, that feeling you get of like, that was so fun. Everyone wants to post about it, like, oh, my God, I'm Superman. I'm the ultimate human. I feel good. That's type two fun. And I think every single day, every single week, every month, every year, everyone should add a type 2 fun into their life.

I love that, man. So add a hormetic stress. Type 2 fun.

Add a hormetic stress.

And so do you see these. When you're in these communities and you, you know, you host these events or people come out to your farm, I mean, do you see transformational change? Like, what do people. What do they say to you? Like, besides thank you? But what do they.

For sure, man. You know, there's everyone. Everyone has a story. All you have to do is ask. Yeah, it's one of my favorite things to say to humans. Every single person has a story. You guys are listening, we're talking. Everyone has a story. All you have to do is ask. And if you can put an environment together where people can open their mind a little bit outside of their normal routine, they're not taking the normal route home, they're not going to their normal weekend bar, etc, then their brain's actually going to expand and they're gonna feel good. So what happens when it expands? Well, relationships are cured. Relationships form, right? Yeah. All of a sudden you're sick you're not so sick anymore. All of a sudden, you have anxiety. Well, man, this. This event opened my eyes a little bit, and I'm. I'm not even doing what I love. I want to go work with so and so. Or I want to go start this, or I want to do that, or, man, I'm gonna hit up that girl that I was so afraid to talk to. Or I'm gonna hit up the guy that I was nervous to message. Or, you know, relationships happen. Mainly, I would say, relationship building. And that can be personal, that can be professional. That's the main thing that happens. The second thing that happens is you're. You feel better.

Yeah.

You know, you feel good. You've too many of us and too many. Too much. Social media, I think, tries to put out, hey, you have to wake up ecstatic every single morning, super stoked, happy. I'm a pretty happy guy. I don't wake up ecstatic every morning.

Right.

And that's just life.

Yeah.

But how can you wake up content? How can you wake up and be like, you know what? Life's okay. You know, I'm good. I'm alive. I'm breathing. I have oxygen. I'm okay. And that's what I'm trying to instill in people. Like, hey, guys, it's okay. Take a deep breath. And so from the relationships to how you feel, I think the two major takeaways from our events from Sweet Honey Farm is just like. Like, hey, let's bring it back to the basics. People are good.

Yeah.

Surround yourself with some good people. Here's some good people. And, hey, this is what feeling good and content and happy looks like. Yeah. Try to remember those two things.

Yeah.

And I think.

And at least know that you can feel them. Right. I mean, I think for some people, like, I. I say this all the time. Like, I think the majority of people have forgotten how good normal feels. Right. And. And I like, in that a lot of times, the nutrient deficiencies, the absence of whole foods, the absence of. Of, you know, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, you know, nutrients of all kinds. And so you get. You get them out. It sounds so simple, but you get onto a farm, they're touching the ground, they're petting a cow, they're eating spinach out of the garden. They're in a community. But. But what it does is it reminds them of what normal feels like.

Correct.

And. And so often when, you know, clients of mine are like, oh, my God, Gary, I feel amazing. I'm like, you know, you actually don't really feel amazing. Like what I'm like, you just feel normal, right? That's how good normal is supposed to feel, dude. I mean, that's how God wants us to feel. He wants us to thrive. You're supposed to have it all, right? Right. And, and it's just so, you know, so amazing.

There was that doctor I was talking to and he said I was asking him about trt and I'm curious on this, you know, from you. Not that I, I would take it. I was just curious on his, his perspective. And, and he said, well, you know what I tell patients? I say, hey, one, are you having regular sex? Are you getting sunlight? Are you moving? Are you doing the things and, and taking the things into your body that are going to make them healthier and then come to me and see if your testosterone is low. You know, try those things first versus just trt, trt, trt.

I totally agree with that, you know. Yeah. And, and the reason why I agree with that is because again, you know, hormones, and I don't want to flip the podcast here, but, you know, hormones are one of those things that need raw materials to, to be constructed. Like, if you're deficient in dhea, you're going to be. It's going to be hard for you to build the hormone testosterone if you're deficient in vitamin D3. It's going to be hard to build the hormone testosterone if you got rampantly high insulin, you know, which is going to lead you to be estrogen dominant. So you're, when you do, when you get the basics right, yes, rarely there's true testicular hypofunction, right? Testicles for one reason or other damage, radiation, you know, lots, lots of abuse that can't produce testosterone. And by all means, you should replace it. In 2018, the Journal of American Urology updated all their clinical guidelines on, on hormone therapy. It is, it is actually really good for you and can substantially extend.

Wow. Cool.

Cool. But people also want to start quick fix and, and do it before it's needed. I mean, no matter what anyone tells you, there's no better hormone than one your body produces on its own. So if you can be high on your own, supply healthy levels of growth hormone from your pituitary, healthy levels of testosterone if you're a male, from your testicles, healthy levels of, of hormones, cyclical. Cyclical hormones if you're a female. That's, that's the best life has to offer. And it's usually the absence of the basics. One of the reasons Why I really, you know, love, you know, love so much that, you know, identify so much with the mission you're on, you know, and, and. And we've been talking about that. When you sat down, you were telling me, and I'm very flattered by it. You're like, really? I. I saved my. My Everest story for this podcast because you haven't really gone. Gone out with the. The story yet. So I first deeply appreciate that. I think my audience is just gonna love your message. But tell me about that, because, yeah, I've never climbed Everest. I'm actually going on an extreme race with my son in three days. We're. He's doing seven marathons on seven continents. Seven days. Yeah, it's going to be a blast for him. 184 miles and in seven days. But the cool thing is it's on every major continent in the world. So I'm literally going to see the world in eight days. And, and it's astounding to me, the negative responses that I get from so many people when I just start to talk to them about, like, oh, my God, I would never do that. Oh, my God, I could never think about all that time in the air. Dude, he's gonna be. He's gonna be torn to shreds, not gonna be able to move when he gets home. Like, dude, we're going to seven continents. Seven days.

Yeah.

This is living, bro.

This is the ultimate. Yeah, you guys are gonna have a blast. Antarctica is beautiful.

I'm.

I'm so excited for you to go. If anyone's listening and you have the chance to go to Antarctica, you should go. It's, It's, It's. It's quite remarkable. But, you know, Everest, it goes back to that Marcus realist quote. The near a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to real strength. And I've been really trying to get deeper and deeper of what that means. You know, am I meditating? Am I working out regularly? Am I, you know, is it the gut health? Is it. How can I calm my mind so I can be that. Be here now, right? It's. It's something I'm. I'm really passionate about. So I went to this thing in February called the Hoffman Institute, which is seven days, no phone. It's a total reset. Highly recommend. Change my life. And so I did that, and I went into Everest with a clear mind. Now it's taken me about four, four or five years to train for Everest. Just understanding gear, understanding layering, understanding climbing, understanding just, just topography. Just understanding everything about a mountain. Because mother, you have mother nature, you have your physical ability, you have your gear, you have other people on the mountain you have to worry about. So like there's a lot of, there's a lot of variables that go into it. And so finally this year I felt comfortable. I'm like, I'm gonna go attempt to climb Everest. And I didn't go in with an expectation of I'm gonna stand on top of the world. But rather than an intention to calm my mind, how can I get closer to real combine? How can I just be me and just be on my own? I didn't take any sponsors on. I paid for it fully out of pocket and I was just using it for a time to get away. And I was also using solo, fully solo. I was with Dr. John, who's an amazing guide. He was introduced through a couple mutual friends, Jesse Itzler, Mike Posner, etc, and then Jen. Jen, our Sherpa, who's amazing guy as well. He's awesome.

They're special humans, man.

Special.

Yeah.

So. So, you know, I went out there with that intention, not expectation and just fully took it in. And you know what I noticed at Everest is there's not that many people on Everest. You know, that's, that's number one. There's if, if you have one hot restaurant in New York City and it's only open one time a year, it's going to look busy because everyone's waiting in line to go up to that one restaurant. The other thing about Everest is that you only have a couple times, if any at all, to summit. There's not that many summit windows. Sometimes four, sometimes three, sometimes one, sometimes zero. And so when there is a summit push and there is an open window, naturally people are going to go up and a lot, a lot of people. And when I say a lot, I think there was 300 permits this year, which you go to a restaurant tonight in Miami, there's gonna be 700 people there.

Yeah.

So there's not that many people on it.

Yeah, they're on the same path. Right.

Everyone's on the same path. And if you deviate outside that pass, you could, you know, you could cause an avalanche. You could get someone hurt. You could get hurt. Like it's, you stay on the, the path and quotes path. Right. They put new lines in every year. When I say they, it's, it's, it's the locals, it's the, it's the Nepalese team. There's about six to eight guys that Go up and. And try to put new lines in. And those lines aren't guaranteed. And so everything has to go right on Everest if you're gonna summit. Everything. You can't get sick. A lot of people get. A lot of people have a cough. Gary, I'm, I'm not kidding, man. When I, When I'm chatting with people on Everest, it's. It's Gary. Yeah. I'll be on your cast. Really bad. Yeah. A lot of people are coughing. They have colds, and these, these, these chest colds going on. Altitude sickness. Maybe your gear is broken, you're too tired. Mother Nature. Avalanches, ice falls, falling in crevasses, food, nutrition, Altitude. Right. Like the altitude. Just having oxygen alone. You don't have oxygen up there. Yeah. So there's a lot of variables that come into being able to summit. But again, I was looking at it as calming the mind and, you know, education. I'm a very curious guy. I dropped out of college. I use climbing. The highest point of Antarctica, highest point in South America, Africa. Now Everest as my school. That's my education. I think it's important for people to know how they learn.

Yeah.

You know, society doesn't have to tell you how to learn. You decide how you want to learn. Are you good at listening? Are you good at writing? Are you good at reading? Are you good at feeling? Are you good at touching? What, like, what is your optimal learning levels? And mine is curiosity and traveling and seeing and touching. That's me. And listening. I'm a sponge. I'm not on. Out. Out on Everest saying, hey, Colin o', Brady, I. I'm gonna tell you what to do. Hey, Dr. John, I'm telling you what to. I'm listening. I'm like a total sponge, and I'm just taking it. I'm seeing, I'm listening. I'm. I'm like, yeah, I'm SpongeBob on Everest, man. I am. I'm up there.

Yeah.

And so, you know, it took me 47 days, you know, you have to rotate 47 days. 47 days I was out there. Yeah.

Because you're. You're going to different levels and then.

Yep.

You're hanging out there to acclimate, right?

Heck yeah, man. Trekked into base camp with my girlfriend, which is amazing. That's. I recommend everyone do adventures with your girl, man. Or your partner.

Yeah. You left her at a certain altitude, right? Like, yeah.

Just left her there. Never see her again.

No, she's still there waiting for you.

She's still there.

She's Going to see this podcast and be like, damn it, he's back.

What the hell? She, no, she came to base camp, which is no joke, man. It's about 17 and a half thousand feet.

That's a 17,000.

17 and a half. Dude.

I've got a cabin at 10 5.

Yeah.

And I go on these ruck walks, just a straight walk. I put a 20 pound ruck and I go on this little route in the woods. When I come back, I'm, I'm, I'm significantly winded. I feel amazing.

Oh man.

But I'm also not just pushing straight up a hill and it's, it's a 10 5. My son actually did a half marathon from like almost a half marathon in pieces from like 10 five up to 13 and a half thousand feet and back down to prepare for this race. But man, you, you, you, you get a hundred yards and you got knee, you're winded, man. If nobody's been to that altitude, it's hard to respect what it's like. When the ambient oxygen goes from 21%, which is sea level. At 10 5, it's about 13.7. And it doesn't sound like a big deal, 7% drop in oxygen. But you, you dead sprint 100 yards.

And you're doing it. And that's, and that's what causes the lines on Everest. It's not a line due to people are going too slow because of someone in front of them, a traffic jam. It's due to what you just said. You have to take a knee. You're exhausted. Even with altitude or even with oxygen tanks, you have about five levels on each tank. Some, some tanks have six. Each level, level one drops by 1500ft. It drops you down 1500ft. If you're at 20,000ft, you're going to 18 5. If you go to level two, you go to 3000ft. It's just 1500 per level. But the issue is if you go all the way, max out to level five, your oxygen tank might only last 15 to 45 minutes. Those oxygen tanks weigh a lot. You can't just bring up a ton of oxy intake. So you have to know how to regulate. You have to acclimate and you have to make sure that your body is, is, is, is recreating these cells, right? And so, and so with that being said, I, you know, 40, that's why it takes 47 days, right? You want to trek into base camp, that takes a couple weeks. You hang out at base Camp, you might even go all the Way back down to Kathmandu. You will then go back up to Base Camp and you wait for a weather window and once you get that weather window and you, and you, after you've done a couple rotations, so you're.

Back down, back up, you're back down, you're back up, you're just getting this acclaim, you're acclimating.

The problem with the, the Nepalese side, and not a lot of people know this, but Everest is split, split in half. Half of it's China and half of it's Nepal. The China side doesn't have the Kumbo Icefall, the Nepal side does. And so what happened was we, China didn't approve our permits. They approved them and then they took them away. China's funny with that stuff, man. They, they, they let their locals go up first and you know, they're, they're not that inviting to Westerners and that's just what it is. It's a pretty known fact, right? You know, and if it's not, well, this podcast will tell.

Yeah, it is climbing the pulse, dude.

Yeah, definitely. I mean it's crazy how they treat, how they treated us. But anyway, so we, we somehow managed to get a permit on the Nepal side. We get to Base Camp and now we have to redo all of our logistics because we don't have a team out here, we don't have our tents, we don't have, we're, you know, it's kind of a free for all, you know, we don't have support. And so we were kind of, we're, we're in a little ruckus for, for a week or so. Finally get a window to go up the Kumbo Icefall. The Kumbo Icefall is one of the scariest places on earth because you have these thousand foot deep crevasses. Ice can fall at any time. There's avalanches all around you. You have to go in the middle of the night because if you are middle of the day, it could cause melting, which would then increase the likelihood of icicles falling on you. So a lot of variables are going into it. Go up the Kumbo icefall at say 11pm takes about 5, 6, 7 hours to get through it. Exhausting. There's cliffs, there's, I mean it's the first time I went through it, I, I messed up and I, I told myself I was like, I don't need to eat that much. Like I can't, like I'm just gonna get sick at altitude. And so I didn't eat and I, I Got really, really sick for not eating. So nutrition's big on, on, on Everest. Finally, we get out of the Kumbo Ice fall. You go up to Camp 3, you hang out there for a sec, you come all the way back down. That's rotation number one. If you do it correct, you can acclimate and then you make for a summit push maybe a week later. It's pretty wild, man. And so I come back down to Base Camp. We go up from Camp 2 to Camp 3, which is 22ish thousand feet to 23 and a half. There was a big storm that came in, and so 100 people were making a, A, you know, a jump for summit that day. And everyone started coming back down. And I told Jen, Jen and I and John, I was like, man, let's just go up. I was like, I think the storm's gonna pass. John's like, I kind of do too. Jenjen's like, it's up to you guys. Let's go.

Yeah.

And so we all, we all proceeded up, ended up getting to Camp 3 safely. The storm did pass, but I mean, it was 50 mile per hour winds. It was, I mean, it was terrifying.

And it wasn't storming.

It wasn't supposed to storm in the weather forecast, it just boom, out of nowhere. 50 mile per hour winds, negative 10, 15 degrees. And you're just, you're in this blizzard. And at that point, again, it's type three. You know, you're like, holy, I might, I might actually die right now.

And how were the guys that were with you? I mean, what was their state?

You know, they, they're, they're somewhat indifferent. Jen, Jen was so cool, man. He, you know, he summited multiple times before and he was, you know, he's a family guy. I was never trying to risk anyone's life and neither was he. So, like, we were always, we always were on the same page. And I ask him, like, are you comfortable? And he said, yes. John, you comfortable? Yes, I'm comfortable. Cool, guys. Everyone's on the same page. No one has to be a hero. If, you know, if, if we feel unsafe, let's get out. So finally get up to Camp 3, man. I'm in the 10 at Camp 3 and there was a group that went up before us. And all I hear in Camp 3 at 11:12am man, and then it start. It just went on all day. People are coming back down the summit. That didn't make it because it was a storm. The blizzard that I was in at Camp 2 to 3 they were in, at the summit. So imagine how bad it was up there. So people are dying.

Dying.

People can't breathe. People are being trying to be evacuated off, but helicopters can't go above Camp 2. And all you hear is, give him oxygen. Give him oxygen. He's not breathing. Cpr, Nepalese people yelling, American, British. Like, all these just yelling, intense. It sounds like I'm in a war zone and I'm supposed to go for summit the next day. And I'm just sitting here in my 10. I start getting emotional.

People literally in that condition dying.

Wow. And I'm like, this is crazy. Like, what am I doing here? This is not a place I should be. And it's not like there's an ambulance or a, you know, like I said, a helicopter. There's nothing around. If you, if you break a leg up there, you're probably gonna die. If you're. If you. If you, you know, stop breathing, you're dead. Like it's not. You don't have resources. So we then had to make the decision to go up. And so we then. I didn't sleep that night because I was terrified. And so we then went up and pushed the next day. It is so slow trying to get up Mount Everest after Camp 3, you can't move. I'm saying you might be. Not even half a mile an hour. I mean, you might be going 0.2 miles an hour. Really so slow. Because you're so exhausted, right? Even. Even if you do have a little oxygen. So fast track to Camp 4, somehow we get there, exhausted, people start thinning out. You start seeing people turn around. Imagine being out there for 47 days, going for summit, and then all of a sudden, weather comes in. You're like, I gotta turn around. And that was your only chance, maybe in your lifetime.

Wow.

Someone just spent $250,000 to be out there and they're in their. Their life and thing, and all of a sudden they turn around. So that's kind of what's going on. I'm watching it. We get to Camp 4, you know, super bright outside. And by the way, there's a lot of trash at Camp four. A lot.

Really?

Yeah. And I'll tell you why. You know, as, you know, as I was coming down, I'll tell you after. But so anyways, get to Camp 4. We then make the summit push, try to get ahead of everyone. And what happened was my guy, Dr. John, was trying to help facilitate me and Jen. Jen. And so he put an extra oxygen on himself, and so he Got stuck behind, which I didn't know about. And so he has a little bit of double the weight on him. He's behind us. So now I get separated from him. So now I'm just with Jen. Jen, me on Mount Everest climbing, and.

I'm like, separated, though. You climb faster.

You can't even. You can't run. You can't walk faster. Everyone's going pretty much the same speed. So, yeah, I mean, he was just behind. And when I say behind a couple hundred yards and it wasn't. He was trying to do us a favor, which John's amazing. One of the best guys out there. He's a great guy. Highly recommend. He does, you know, a ton of. A ton of climbs around the world. Kilimanjaro at Kankago, etc, but, you know, he got stuck behind. We then make the summit push. I fell asleep. I fell asleep on the summit push on the side of the mountain. Negative 20 degrees out. I was exhausted, Gary. I, like, I couldn't breathe. I was tired. And I just fall asleep on the line. And all of a sudden my tank stops oxygen. And I go. And Jen, Jen, my Sherpa turned my oxygen back to level one. It was at level three.

Oh, my God.

It turns it back. The problem was when you go to level three, you start to get relaxed because you're like, I got a little bit of oxygen. Right. But the problem when you get relaxed and you're that tired is you fall asleep. When you fall asleep at negative 20 degrees, you freeze. And that's what happened. That's what happened to two Mongolians before us. They froze on the line. It was in the news. That was a day before us.

That was the day before.

Right. Date before us. And then so the guy woke me up.

How do they get the bodies down from there? They just leave them. Oh, you can't. Yeah. So you have to hike past them.

Them. Oh, yeah, yeah.

So you actually saw. Dead.

There was multiple. And you know, these. These bodies, man, they're. They're wax. They look like wax characters. They're. They look perfectly preserved. Sometimes their eyes were open. There was a guy, his eyes were open. He had a blue, black diamond helmet on. He had a red North Face onesie on. You know, the man. And he was just there, and it looked like he was alive. And I'm looking at him like, man, this is. This is someone's brother. This is someone's maybe father. This is a child of someone. Like, this is wild. Multiple. Multiple people. So then we proceed past these bodies. It's starting to get scary. You're approaching 29,032ft. Get to the top. You could hear a pin drop at the top. Perfect weather, perfect blue skies. Get to the summit. 505. I had a little extra energy because I took that mini 60 second nap, did a little backflip on the top, which is really fun, and proceeded down up there for about 30 to 45 minutes.

She stayed right at the summit for 30 to 45.

Yeah, man.

Just take all the flags stuck in.

There and like, man, when you stand on top of the world and you just look around and you're like, man, I'm, I'm the tallest point on earth. There's no one higher than me right now. It is, I mean, it's giving me the chills thinking about it is. It's so next level. It's a feeling of this crazy energy of just, okay, I did it, but I didn't do it. I gotta get down now. Yeah, and that's the hardest part, man. That's the scariest part. I go down.

Why is that?

Well, you know, it's, you're, you have to go past people. It was what I was saying earlier in the podcast. You have to literally. Gary, I have to, I have a, I have a carabiner attached to the line and I have to. My stomach to your stomach. I have to come around you and put my other Caribbean around every person, hundreds of people. You have to go around and you have this much to step on. And guess What? It's a 5,000 foot drop if you fall. So it's terrifying. You're just, I'm, there's no way I'm getting down right now. And it's not just a walk in the park. You're going down, you know, the, the size of buildings, just, you know, trying to pass people, repelling down. I would go over the Hillary Step after summit. I'm at about 28 and a half thousand feet. I go over the Hillary step 30 minutes later behind me, boom. The whole thing collapsed. No multiple people fell dead. No dead. And I'm just like, John, we gotta get the out of here. I'm getting out of there, my man. Like, I'm not staying on this mountain. I know, you know, people take three, four days to get off Everest. Two if you're good. I was like, we're out on the whole freaking mountain in 20 hours. We were like, see you later.

And you say collapse the area that you were walking is, is that because it's pure ice?

Ice, snow, Mother Nature, and it just.

Cracked off and down they went.

Yeah.

And the Caribbean didn't. Didn't hold them to the.

Yeah, it must have. It must have came out. And so, and if any families are listening, man, I, you know, and, and you lost someone on Everest, like, serious condolences because it's like, like, it's, it's. It's scary, man. I would never go back there. I, you know, and my blessings go out to everyone that tried, but, like, shoot, man, it's. It's really sad. It's, it's. And they. There's good climbers out there. You're not getting to the top. Yeah, it must have, it must have came out. And so, and if any families are listening, man, I, you know, and, and you lost someone on Everest, like, serious condolences because it's like, it's. It's top of ever says a bad climber. You know, these are experienced people that have trained their life to do this. And it's just, It's a sad. It's a sad, sad thing. And I don't know, I think if you have a family, if, if, you know, you have a wife or a husband, and, man, I wouldn't recommend going to Everest. I just wouldn't recommend. I'm not going back, you know? Yeah, there's also, there's also. There's a debacle between the Nepalese and Westerners. And I'll be the first to say it. There's. There's a little bit of. It's a debacle, man. It's. They'll cut your lines. No, they will cut your lines, man. I'm not kidding. I was standing, coming out of the Kumbo Icefall, John and I standing there. There's 20 Sherpas locals around us, and they're all jamming in front of us to get their carabiners on the line ahead of us. And I'm like, brother, like, can I get in? And they're like, they're just pushing me out of the way. And I go to shove in and just put my carabiner on so I don't fall off this freaking cliff. And John's like, no, no, chill. And I'm like, why? He's like, they'll cut your line. I'm like, what do you mean they're gonna. He's like, they'll cut your line. They'll push you off. He's like, don't fight with them. He's like, it's two verse 20. And I'm like, right, got it. And I'm like. And, And I believe this goes back to 1953, when Tenzing Norway, a Nepalese, and Sir Hillary, he. They both summited. And some say that Hillary. Edmund Hillary summited first. Some say Tenzing Norway did. Some say they summited together. But the world puts Hillary on this pedestal, which probably isn't the right thing. You know, if they did summit together. And so I, I think ever since 1953, there's been a little chaos and confusion and debacle between the Westerners.

Yeah.

You know, it's their mountain, it's not ours. And so it's. You got to watch out for that. You got to watch out for who's guiding you. You got to watch out for your health. You got to watch out for Mother Nature. You got. There's so many variables.

Yeah.

If you have a family, I would not recommend.

Who wants to be a guy doing that. I mean, too. Forget it. I'll be a river guide or something like a little less dangerous.

Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. But I've. I've found a little bit more calmness in my brain. I'm happy I did it. And man, what an adventure. You know, I, I probably wouldn't, I wouldn't be talking about this if I didn't do it. And I think it's, it's, it's something cool. I can, I can, I can always have my back pocket and know that I, I accomplished. So, yeah, I'm happy I did it, but I wouldn't. I would never do it again.

That's amazing, man. How do those experiences, like, you know, the.

Be grinding my brain. I'm happy I did it. And man, what an adventure. You know, I, I probably wouldn't, I wouldn't be talking about this if I didn't do it. And I think it's, It's. It's something cool. I can, I can. I can always have my back pocket and know that I, I accomplished. So, yeah, I'm happy I did it, but I wouldn't. I would never do it again.

That's amazing, man. How did those experiences, like, you know, the grinding through the pain of a bear crawl, grinding through the pain of, Of Everest, you know, pushing your body to, to the absolute limit, even into the zone of the unknown. Right. Because, you know, I feel like when you do, you know, you prepare for a race, like a marathon or distance racing through the pain of a bear crawl, grinding through the pain of, Of Everest, you know, pushing your body to kind of know what you're getting into can manage your exhaustion.

Yeah.

Like, look, my son's never done seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. But he knows what a marathon is, right? And, and if he gets into trouble, he can slow down a little bit and bring himself back and. But these are like sort of black holes that you're going into.

Black holes, right?

I mean they're, they're not pre planned. Obviously you can train, but.

Right.

You're also in that black hole. Like, what has, what has that done? What did that experience do to shape you? What, what, what was your big takeaway from, from those.

It.

Because nothing prepared you. You didn't like, prepare to look at frozen dead people.

No.

You didn't prepare to have somebody maybe cut your line and actually take your life because.

Right.

You bought in front of him in line. Like, that wasn't part of your training. Right.

So I think, and I love your, your, your perspective on this, but you know, the, the thing with the brain, bigger is better. Yeah. Right. And I, I believe when you activate your brain in different scenarios, like I said, not the routine in and out, you're expanding your brain and I can take that. My brain and things I learn and I see and I, I push through. I don't start a race until I get to last 10 of the race. That's when the real race starts. The first 90 is, guys, we're having fun. This is type, type one, type two fun.

Right?

The last 10 is the type. Damn, man. This is a 2.5 fun. This is some. I'm. Man, my heart's beating, my head's gonna explode. I'm dehydrated. I have a blister on my foot. Jesus, man. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I need this to stop, like, freaking out. That's where you learn about yourself. How do you. How can I, for me, handle chaos? How can I handle exhaustion? How far can this body go? And I'll tell you one thing. This body can do a lot. Our bodies are so, so, so, so smart, man. And they're, they're, they can, they can recover fast. They, they know when they need hydration. They know when they need protein. They like it. Knows. And understanding my body on all fours, I wanted to understand it and I wanted to be as comfortable on twos, you know, I wanted to be as comfortable on bear, like literally crawling on all fours as I was walking in two feet. And I wanted to see what's that like, right? I want to be as comfortable on Everest as I am walking around Central Park. I wanted to be just as comfortable. I want to see how can my body adapt and how far can this body really go? Not to the point of death, but to the point of like. Like, all right, knocking on that door real quick, you know, And I think I. I believe in what's helped me in my business career, my personal life, my friendships, everything is. When I push my brain a little bit past that uncomfortability, I can handle all those other scenarios so much more easier. Like, you know, people. People are, you know, they flip out about the most basic.

That's what I mean.

Things. And I'm like, man, like. Like. I push my brain a little bit past that uncomfortability, I can handle all those other scenarios so much more easier. Like, you know, people. People are, you know, if they flip out about the most basic.

That's what I mean.

Things. And I'm like, man, like, have you ever feel. On a cliff, man, like, have you ever. Have you ever ran a marathon? Have you ever, like, really been in a situation?

Have you ever.

On a cliff, man, have you ever ran a marathon? Have you ever, like, really been in a situation where, you know, you know, death's knocking on your door? Because if not, then put yourself in a position where it's really hard and you need a test. Do a masogi. Do something that you don't know if you're going to complete or not. 50, you're going to complete it. 50. Not. And go put yourself where you know, you know, death's knocking on your door. Because if not, then put yourself in a position where it's really hard and you need a test. Do a masogi. Do something that you don't know if you're going to complete or not. 50, you're going to complete it. 50.

Not.

Lot. And go. Put yourself out there, because that's where your brain's going to expand. You know, I was reading in a book, take a different route home every day from work. Don't take the same route home. Don't take that same subway. Back and forth, back, forth. Take a left turn, take a right turn. Go to that coffee shop you've never been to. Go to that restaurant. Try that workout place. Try different things. Expand your brain. And that's what these races, the marathons, the bear crawls, the Everest, the Antarctica, the trips, the. These. These adventures out there. Because that's where your brain's going to expand. You know, I was reading a book. Take a different route home. Every day from work, I put myself riding across America. That's where my brain Expands the other part, you know, like riding across America in New Mexico. People are living in tents, Gary. They're living. Don't take the same route home. Don't take that same subway back and forth, back, forth. Take a left turn, take a right turn. Go to that coffee shop. You've never been intense. And they're chilling, and they're former doctors. Yeah. Guess what? They don't have bills. They can go. They can go to the store and get food once a week. You know, they don't have that nagging girlfriend or boyfriend to go to that restaurant. Try that workout place. Try different things. Expand your brain. And that's what these races, the marathons, the bear crawls, the Everest, the Antarctica, the trips, the. These. These adventures. They're chilling, man.

And they're.

And they're. They're doing their life. They're riding their bike every day. They're running, and they're living out of their tent. They're jumping in the river. They are living. And they have reset the standard of what they want. And you know what that did to me? That made me think, man, we add the stress to our life. We're the ones that keep stacking up. Well, I want this, and I want that, and I need this. Perfect. Well, guess what? This is the standard. You can live it. We can all live in a tent next to river. Some years, I put myself riding across America. That's where my brain expands. The other part, you know, we're on this planet, and that's the very simple life. If you want that, that. But if you want to start a company, expect stress. If you want to run a race, expect. You're gonna have to get in shape. If you want to do this. You're gonna have, like, riding across America. In New Mexico, people are living in tents, Gary. They're living in tents, and they're chilling, and they're former doctors. Yeah. Guess what? They don't have bills. They sacrifice that. We're adding the stress to our life. You know what I mean? You can go. They can go to the store and get food once a week. You know, they don't have that nagging girlfriend or boyfriend we got. I can have a simple life, man. I asked to be on this podcast.

Yeah.

You wanted me to be on this podcast. I was. You know, the last 24 hours, I'm like, all right, let me look at these notes. Let me listen to Gary. Let me. I put that stress on me. Yeah. You know what I mean? If I didn't want to do it, I would hey, I'm gonna back off.

I'm gonna chill in my tent at the river.

And that's right.

When it comes to snacking, Masa is flipping the script on what real food should look like. Like Masa chips are crafted with grass fed beef tallow, one of the.

They're chilling, man, and they're. And they're. They're doing their life.

They're healthiest fats on the planet. These chips are packed with essential vitamins like vitamin A, D, e, and vitamin K2, all of which play a role in keeping your skin vibrant, your immune system strong, and your bones solid.

Riding their bike every day, they're running and they're living. Out of their tent, they're jumping in the river, they are living, and they have reset the standard of what they want want. And you know what that did to me? That made me think, man, we add the stress to our life. We're the ones that keep stacking up. Well, I want this and I want that.

But here's the real magic about Masa. Masa's corn goes through an ancient process called nixtamalization, which makes it way easier to digest, and it amps up its nutrient profile. Plus, these chips are low in PUFAs, so you won't find any of the inflammatory seed oils that you find in most snacks. And instead, Masa uses pure Redmond sea salt, giving you a natural hit of minerals that keep your cells hydrated and your energy steady. So don't just snack reach for Masa. It's real food, real health, without any of the junk. Grab a bag, and I promise you'll feel the difference. Now let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. Yeah, I think that's such a great metaphor, and I need this perfect.

Well, guess what? This is the standard. You can live it. We can all live in a tent next to a river self.

For life is like, you know, you talk about finding that calm in your mind, but being calm under stress. You know, it's like if you've ever done like a really hard yoga session, they wrap you into the candle stick pose or something.

It should be like, we're on this planet and that's the very simple life, if you want that. But if you want to start a company, expect stress. If you want to run a race, expect you're gonna have to get in shape if you want to do this.

You're gonna have called the torture pose. And, and you know, you're there, you're half squatted, your hands are together, your. Your butt's Firm.

You're holding in to sacrifice that. That we're adding the stress to our life. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Your abdomen and you just start shaking in pain.

Right.

And like, and you know, the sweats coming off of your head, but you're just trying to calm your mind in that scenario. I feel like you can condition yourself, condition your mind. It's like, why? Why? I tell people to, you know, if your morning's hard, your day will be easy. And I'm not saying you have to go in and. And do a workout that just. Just taxes your joints every day of your life. But I. We.

I can have a simple life, man. I asked to be on this podcast.

Yeah.

You wanted me to be on this podcast. Yeah.

You know, a few. Few months ago, I was like, you know, I really freaking hate wide grip pull ups.

I was, I, you know, the last 24 hours, I'm like, all right, let me look at these notes. Let me listen to Gary. Let me. I put that stress on me. Yeah. You know what I mean? If I didn't want to do it, I would. Hey, I'm gonna back off.

I'm gonna chill in my tent at the river.

And that's right.

When it comes to snacking, Masa is. And I really suck at them. Do it. And so I just. That's who. I've got a David Goggins in my mind all the time. Like, you, like, do it now. Do it now. And. And what was crazy is I went in and started doing. I was like, all myself.

All myself.

All myself down.

Yeah.

You know, and then, you know, and then I just started working through them. Now I'm in there rolling them out, and I'm like, you know, it's. It's such a metaphor for life. Like, you know, you call it do hardship.

Yeah.

And I think the reason why you want to do hard. Well, I'd love to hear your reason. Yeah. Flipping the script on what real food should look like. Masa chips are crafted with grass fed beef tallow. One of the. Why should people do hard?

Expand your brain. Yeah, it expands your brain. It makes. It allows you to enjoy the good times much, much more. Yeah, man. That Memorial Day weekend when I came back from Everest.

Healthiest fats on the planet. These chips are packed with essential vitamins like vitamin A, A, D, e, and vitamin K2, all of which play a role in keeping your skin vibrant, your immune system strong, and your bones solid. But here's the real magic about Masa. Masa's corn goes through an Ancient process called nixed.

I was the happiest guy on Earth, man. I was so happy. I enjoyed that burger and I enjoyed my friends and I enjoyed my hugging my mom and I enjoyed it so much more than before Everest.

That's so cool, man. You know, I, I, I took the family on a extreme Costa Rican vacation about two years ago and my, my daughter, my, my two sons, my youngest daughter and you know, my wife and, and my son's fiance and we all went down there and was really cool. When I say extreme vacation wasn't like definitely not like Everest or bear calling.

You didn't take your family to ever.

No. Only one of us would make it and that'd be my, my son. But stimulization, which makes it way easier to digest and it amps up its nutrient profile. Plus these chips are, it was really cool is. You know, we rafted the Pakari River. We did spelunking. We did you know, repelling. You know we atving out in the, you know, we, we stayed in these lodges that didn't have any running water. Freaking bugs low in PUFAs. So you won't find any of the inflammatory seed oils that you find in most snacks snacks. And instead Masa uses pure Redmond sea salt, giving you a natural hit of minerals that keep your cells hydrated and your energy steady. So don't just snack reach for Masa. It's real everywhere. And in the last night we were in the, the, the Picori Lodge and, and the next morning I had to leave. If I left the family there, I'd leave the jungle 4:30 in the morning because I had to get to town and take a flight to Miami because actually I was just speaking engagement in Miami and it was at live nightclub in Miami. And you know, somebody had rented. It wasn't a nightclub thing. It was like they rented a nightclub. And it was, it was actually Dan's, Dan Fleischen's mastermind. $100 million food, real health without any of the junk. Grab a bag and I promise you'll feel the difference. So anyway, but the whole point is I, I woke up in the jungle. I'd only been there for seven days. I take this. Now let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. Yeah, I think that's such a great metaphor for flight. I land in Miami and as I'm like getting to the speaking venue for life is like, you know, you talk about finding that calm in your mind, but being calm under stress. You know, it's like if you've ever done Like a really hard yoga session. They wrap you into the candle stick pose or something. It should be like. It all felt so surreal. Like I was looking around, I'm like, none of this is necessary. Like these buildings, that Ferrari, this crazy gorgeous nightclub, all these clothes, these fancy clothes you guys are wearing. That twenty thousand dollar bag that just passed me in the lobby. Like, doesn't matter. It was, it was super perspective for me. Like I was, I was almost like, I don't belong here.

Yeah.

Like I wanted to go back to the Costa Rican jungle so bad. And so I, I really identify with what you're saying and I think that by doing really hard, you know, called the torture pose. And, and you know, you're there, you're half squatted, your hands are together, your, your butt's firm, you're holding in. People understand that, you know, life's, you know, take it a little easy. Like your abdomen and you just start shaking in pain, right? And like, and you know the sweats coming off of your head, but you're just trying to calm your mind in that scenario. I feel like you can condition yourself.

You're taking it easy on yourself.

That's serious. Guys, I got a hater on Instagram. I don't even know who this freaking person is. Yeah, man. It's not self condition your mind. It's like why, why? I tell people to, you know, if your morning's hard, your day will be easy.

You know, I don't want to sound like this, but you know, in. I think we'll live to 180. I really do. I think in 150 years, none of this is, I don't think any of this is really going to matter. It's, you know, that, that, that person that, you know, you thought was mad at you or that stupid little fight you got in with your girlfriend or that it's not really gonna matter.

I'm not saying you have to go in and, and do a workout that just taxes your joints every day of your life. But I, it's really not, not. Yeah, take it easy.

Yeah, it's not like relax.

Yeah.

Everyone take a chill pill. You know the other reason I, you.

Know, few, few months ago I was like, you know, I really freaking hate wig grip pull ups and I really suck at them do. And so I just, that's why I got a David Goggins in my mind.

All the like doing hard stuff is because it, you know Stephen Kotler from his book on flow state?

I'm like, you like do it now. Do it now, do it now.

And you know, it speaks on. There's three ways to re. Tap into flow state in our brain. You have to do something mindless, you have to do something hard, and you have to do something calm. And with those three things, you can retap.

You have to do all three of them.

You should do all. You have to do all three of them. Flow state only lasts in the brain for 75 minutes according to studies. 75 minutes, you can be in that state of not understand, not understanding time, being in the zone and just.

And what was crazy is I went in and started doing. I was like hold myself.

Being in your own world. That feeling of oh my God, what just happened?

Laser concentration. Got that myself all myself down, you know, and then, you know, and then I just started done that.

I want to get. It's 75 minutes. Can't have flow state, Gary, for 10 hours in a row. It's not working through them.

Now I'm in there rolling them out and I'm like, you know, it's, it's such a metaphor for life like, you know, you call it do hard.

Yeah.

And I think the reason why you want to do hard. Well, I'd love to hear your reason possible.

However, the way to maximize it is by doing hard, cold punch. By doing something mindless meditate, doing something calm. Maybe it's a sauna. And so that's why, like at Sweet Honey, that's what I do every 75 minutes. And that's why I encourage members and people.

Every 75 minutes.

Every 75 minutes.

Dude, that's so cool.

Yeah. And so then I get to. I get to reset and I re. Tap into flow state. And so if I'm taking calls or meetings from say 10:30 to 3, I'm doing it.

Why should people do hard?

Expand your brain. Yeah, it expands your brain. It makes. It allows you to multiple times in between. And by my three, four o' clock call or meeting, guess what? I'm at 100, baby. I'm good to go.

You know, three saunas, three cold plunges and.

Yeah, and I just lay there, meditate. I'll do a Hoffman meditation. I'll just listen. Sometimes I'll just go pet a horse. You enjoy the good times much, much more. Yeah, man. That Memorial Day weekend when I came back from Everest, I was the happiest guy on Earth, man. I was so happy. I enjoyed that burger and I enjoyed my friends and I enjoyed my hugging my mom. And I enjoyed it so much more than before Everest.

That's so cool.

And I just do something. I'll just. I just chill. And guess what? By the end of the day, I'm 100 on a call. I'm not. Hey, Gary, how are you? Sorry, man. I'm so tired. It was my last call for today. That's not Gary. Let's go, baby. What do we got going on? Yo, I'm in it. Let me focus. I'm you and me, baby. Let's get this call done, you know, And. And I think that energy is what we all need in our life. It's not the extra caffeine.

And then, you know, I. I took the family on a extreme Costa Rican vacation about two years ago, and my. My daughter, my. My two sons, my youngest daughter, and, you know, my wife and. And my son's fiance, and we all went down there and was really cool. When I say extreme vacation, it wasn't like, definitely not, like, have Everest or bear calling.

You didn't take your family Everest. It's not the cocaine. It's the good, real energy that we can. Can give to ourself. It's a real dopamine. It's the real flow state. And that's. That's just what I believe in, man. From doing hard.

Dude, that's so good, man. I think it's. Like I said, I think it's such a metaphor for life. And I. I remember back when I. I first started doing CrossFit because I've always tried to meditate. Yeah, I do. I do breath work every morning now, which really helps. But I. I never was able to really, really quiet my mind, and I found CrossFit. And thing that I loved about it was if, you know, if you're ever doing a CrossFit wad and you actually don't want to quit, you're just not doing it right. Right. Like, no, Only one of us would make it, and that'd be my. My son. But. But what was really cool is, you know, we rafted the Picari River. We did spelunking. We did, you know, repelling. You know, we ended ATVing out in the. You know, we. We stayed in these lodges that didn't have any running water. Freaking bugs everywhere. And in the last night, we're in the. The about 70 of the time. You should really want to quit. Like, it's.

And it's brutal.

It's brutal. And like, you know, whatever the amrap is that you're doing, but afterwards, by.

The way, as many rounds as possible.

Yeah.

What's Gary doing?

Okay, yeah, yeah. These guy next to you.

Emoms are a walk in the park. It's like, all right, I get a little rest. These are fun. Amrap is just, just.

Rabbits are torture because you're trying to condense time. And, and I realized, you know, over long term that combining speed and heavy weight was a bad idea. That's why I stopped doing it. I didn't have a problem with heavy weight or a problem speed, but I think the combination for like deadlift for time, 400 meter sprint, deadlift for time. That to me is, yeah, that's, that's.

Is that room for recipe for disaster. It is, right?

But Pori Lodge and, and the next morning I had to leave. If I left the family there, I'd leave the jungle 4:30 in the morning because I had to get to town and take a flight to Miami because actually I was just speaking engagement Miami. And it was at live nightclub in Miami. And you know, somebody had rented. It wasn't a nightclub thing. It was like they rented the nightclub and it was, it was actually.

What do you. So what do you think of these hybrid athletes then that everyone's like, yeah, the deadlift and then run the mile or whatever.

And see Dan's. Dan Fleischen's mastermind 100 million.

Cool. Is, is that, is there longevity to that or.

I think there's, there are athletes that, that, you know, can condition and, and participate that. But you know, compound Olympic lifts, you know, like, like a real overhead snatch, right. Or, or a squat snatch. I mean, that's not something that your average soccer mom should just do twice a week, you know, after she drops the kids off at school.

Right.

I mean, just come in, you know, fresh out of bed, had a cup of coffee, dropped the kids off at school, you know, pulls in and now she's doing compound Olympic lifts. And it's, it's not that I have any problem with those activities or even the CrossFit games, but it's, you know, what, what I. So anyway, but the whole point is I woke up in the jungle. I'd only been there for seven days. I take this flight, I land in Miami. And as I'm like getting to the speaking venue, it all felt so surreal. Like I was looking around, I'm like, none of this is necessary. Like.