118. HPF - The 50 Year Old Weapon

Welcome to another episode of Real Dad Movement podcast. The point and purpose of these episodes, as always, is to have a point and purpose towards helping you win the second half in life by building a path of becoming the best father, husband, man and member of your community that you can be. We do this with various ways of connecting. Life is connection. And as you hear these words spoken time and time again, know that the driving force of connection in life is energy. Which means that how you turn up as a father, as a husband, as a valued member of society will always start and end with how you turn up as a man within yourself. First, this is why it's my mission, my purpose, our mission, our purpose through Real Dad Movement to inspire, motivate, educate and guide you into thoughts, feelings, actions and a change in your belief systems to rise up, cut the shit from your life and live and leave a real legacy. When dads win, everyone wins. And when you win, I win. Let's get moving forward, mate. Right here, right now.

Here we are, another HPF high performance father episode with our special guest, our energy coach, Ken Lavander. Ken, welcome, mate. Thanks for joining us again.

Welcome, Al. And welcome to everyone.

Yes, what an amazing episode we have here. What I wanted to do is really dive into the nuts and bolts of Ken's life, his achievements, what he's done, and an incredibly humble man. So whilst he might downplay some of his ridiculous and unbelievable achievements, it's important that we peel the layers back a little bit. And for this man, who's the epitome of standing up as a high performance.

Father and a real leader in society.

Through his body, his physiology, his mindset, his value, the service he adds to the world, the family man that he is. I think it's critical for a lot of you guys to get a better understanding of where this very, very valuable knowledge, information and experience above all else, which is the most important thing has come from with these episodes. So haven't come up with a title yet. I might just title it the 50 Year Old Jacked Warrior, but maybe.

You'Re.

Very humble man, But Ken, mate, it's awesome to have you on again. I really love these sessions. I enjoy the individual podcasts, I do, but I'm always learning from our interactions, which we've known each other for a while now, mate, but these sessions, you just continually bring out more and more value. That gets me thinking as well. So first off, thank you for that, mate, but let's dive on in. I know you mentioned before you actually entered the bodybuilding arena and did Some amazing stuff there. But, mate, talk to us, Just share a little bit. I know we did an episode ages ago about some of your upbringing, whatnot, but I guess just to shed some light, you know, where you've come from and then, you know, to start to build in. What I've written down is, or just literally a title, results. Like, I want to start to see, I guess, your achievements from that young age, which can really paint the picture for our listeners or viewers on YouTube that get an understanding of where you've come from.

Mate.

Yeah, no, thanks, Al. It's been a pretty interesting journey. There's been a few. A few, I suppose, detours, as everyone would have detours in their life. And I suppose that's how we learn a lot. And, you know, we need to make mistakes so that we become better within ourselves and better for the people that are around us. Life would be too easy if no one ever made mistakes and we're all exactly the same. So, you know, it's really interesting and I've got a couple of little interesting stories which I'm sure everyone will have a nice laugh about as we go through. And many of my close friends tend to bring this up when there's a party or a function or something that goes on. But we'll get into that a little bit later. But I suppose, really what's interesting, and as we've spoken in previous episodes, I'm all about living my life to the best of my ability and making sure that I actually do live my life right up until I die. And at the moment, like, if you look at the statistics, Australian male life expectancy is 82.75 years. So that leaves me at potentially 50 years old. And 50, you know, I'll be 51 in October. It leaves 11,680 days left of my life if I kind of live until what the statistics tell us. But, I mean, the great thing about that is that I'm actually going to live those next 11,680 days absolutely with vitality, with everything I possibly can to just have a great life. That's what it's about, and to share that with the people around me. So, yeah, like I was saying, where it started, really, like, I'm the youngest, I'm the baby of six in my family, three boys and three girls. And so anyone that's from a family of more than one will really kind of understand that you grow up very quick. And especially being the youngest one, having two older brothers and three older sisters, I had to learn how to Run real fast and negotiate. Had to learn how to fight. I was always getting the hand me downs and things like that. Growing up in the country and you think about it, 50 years ago, there wasn't a lot of money around. We ate the food that we grew. It was local, it was the food that was kind of available to us there. And then there was very little takeaway, very little genetically modified food. So kind of in a way, growing up in the country, it was very, very good for me. I wasn't exposed to too many toxic chemicals. Although, you know, there are a few people that might kind of think otherwise. Especially growing up in Broken Hill where the miners out there and throughout the years growing up and a lot of my friends that were working in the mines, they used to get a lead bonus every payday, every two weeks. Like going back 30, 40 years ago, they'd get $270. So think about the value of that. $270, 35 to 40 years ago or 30 years ago, $270 a week for lead bonus. Why? Because of the heavy metals or the heavy lead toxicity out in Broken Hill. So it was something like 500 times higher than the average person. So in that situation, you know, that could have detrimental effects through my biology, my bio, individuality. So really, in a way, maybe growing up in the country and being near a mining town wasn't a great idea or it could have been. But I suppose as time went on, I spent 32 years in Broken Hill of my life. Spent four years in Adelaide and now the last 15 to 16 years here in Woonoona on the south coast in Wollongong. But I mean, during that journey I had the opportunity to play AFL for 30 years of my life for central districts in Adelaide at a very high level. And also I was basically pushed out from whether it be a cultural thing or whatever it was from potentially making the rookie list on the Adelaide Crows at 16 to 17 years old. I was playing football three days a week for school, for a countryside, but also in Adelaide. But then things kind of change as.

Sorry, sorry mate. Adelaide Adelaide Crows tryout 16 yeah.

And so, you know, there was great. There was plenty of opportunities that when it come to athletics and football and everything else. Cause I'd always look after myself with my nutrition. And yeah, it was a bit of a journey from especially young age, but I suppose really from 12 years old when my dad passed away and we're living in the country, my mum decided that she wanted to be near family and so, so we moved to Adelaide for four years, from the age of 12 through to the age of 16. And then kind of I had to make a decision, had to grow up like a very fast, fast. I suppose, lesson for me was I had no one really to turn to. I didn't kind of really associate a lot of, I suppose, questions with my brothers because they were much older than me, five, six, seven years older than me. So it was pretty difficult and I really had no one to turn to and I didn't have my dad by my side to ask questions and everything else. So it was a pretty intense upbringing from the age of literally 12 through to around about 20 years old, really. And yeah, like I say, once I got to Adelaide, I really learned a lot about myself and had a lot of time to think now that I was spending a lot of time by myself and getting involved in football and surrounding myself with some very intelligent people. And if they basically come back to me and said, listen, if you want to make it in life, you need an education, but also you need to look after yourself. And they put me amongst some great individuals that were really influential to my life and to, I suppose, my upbringing about living a healthy life and looking after myself and doing the best I can with whatever circumstances I was in. So from there I was going to high school in a very rough area in Elizabeth or Paralawi in Adelaide. And then for some reason, I'm not too sure what it was, but all the domino started to fall in place and my athletic ability become exceptionally well. And the nutrition was spot on. My training was focused for literally every day. I would get up and run, I would exercise, I would be doing everything I possibly could to stay a fit and healthy human being. And from that, really, I was just lucky enough to compete in athletics for the school. And from that, Glenys Nunn, who literally was a 1986 Olympic gold medalist, or from there she went in the 1986 Commonwealth Games and she was a 100 metre hurdler, but also competed in heptathlons. And I was invited to trial out for the Edinburgh Games in athletics. And it was funny because I remember the first time I went to like an asphalt track and everyone that was there, they were all in their spikes and they were all in their flash gear and everything else. And I rock up in my stubby shorts and a torn blue King G singlet and bare feet and. And people are looking at me sideways and whatever else, you know, he's this country boy that's moved from the country from Broken Hill into. Into into the Adelaide, into the big Smoke. But also the area that I come from wasn't recognized as a very, a very good area to come from out at near Elizabeth. And so anyway, we went into Kensington and we, we stood on the hundred meter line and there I was, everyone kind of looking at me sideways because I'm in bare feet and they're all running in these flash shoes and everything else. And the gun went off and There was about seven of us at the, starting at the 100 meter mark and I crossed the line about one and a half to two seconds quicker than anyone else. And so then all of a sudden everyone wanted to talk to me, everyone wanted to know what my secret was and whatever else. And there was no secrets. It was just real about, you know, knowing where you wanted to go in life and what you wanted to do and kind of that direction and that motivation. Not having my dad and realizing that everyone around me had people that they could lean on, had people that they could ask questions, they had direction. And literally I just had to make my own mind up to be successful in life and to try and do the best I possibly could with whatever I had at that time. And we had no money, we kind of, you know, we lived in a housing commission when we went across to Adelaide. So it was a pretty tough upbringing for about four years. And then through different circumstances, personal circumstances, I moved back to Broken Hill at the age of 16 and then missed out on a few incredible opportunities and didn't get to go to the Edinburgh Games. And just through family and certain circumstances, I missed out on potentially getting into playing for the Adelaide Crows. And whether I could have got across the line or not, I'm not too sure. But there was lots of opportunities and really just through to personal circumstances, I didn't get there. But now as I kind of move down in later years in life, I look back and I think to myself, well, you know what? It was maybe a good lesson learned and I'm sure there's a lot of other people out there that have missed out on great opportunities in their life. But it's not worrying about what could have been. It's really about what you do with yourself and with the people around you in the future. So I'm kind of not disappointed that I didn't get there. But at the same time you're always forever wondering what if, what if? But to kind of move on from that story a little bit. Playing, playing AFL in Broken Hill. And then from about the age of 30 to 31, I decided that I'd had enough. You know, after a while, when you do so, so many things for a certain amount of time, you get bored with that. And, and a very, very close friend of mine realized that I was at a stage in my life where I wanted to focus on trying to optimise my body to the best of its ability. I'd always, always looked after myself, but really I thought I turned to bodybuilding and I wanted to go in, obviously, a bodybuilding comp, because of a lot of people that I'd spoken to that were trying to look after their body and trying to gain a little bit of muscle and trying to stay lean and optimize their body composition. I realized that this was something that, well, let's see what the body can actually do and let's, let's, let's kind of challenge. I wanted to challenge myself to see how far I could actually take this and see whether I could reach a pinnacle in my life and maybe get to the natural Olympia in bodybuilding. So I decided to jump into that. And in the first year I competed, and I kind of dedicated a whole 12 months where I measured every bit of food, I exercised six days a week out of seven. I looked at meditation, I looked at breathing, I looked at doing everything I possibly could do. And I did my own research and done it all myself and jumped in and thought, you know, like, if I'm going to go places, well, I have to do it myself because there's nobody really around that I can lean on or ask questions. And so what happened was I competed in the South Australian titles, I won the novice South Australian titles, and I won the novice Australian titles. And that kind of give me a little bit of motivation then to go on and win a couple of other South Australian titles, New South Wales titles, and then decided to compete in the natural Olympia. And I finished in the top three in the world in, I suppose, in natural bodybuilding. And every time I went on the stage, I'd always put my hand up and ask to be drug tested because it was all about being a natural bodybuilder to make sure that there's a lot of different kind of organizations and whatever else there that don't drug test, don't do anything. So I kind of hold my hand up high and promote myself to be, you know, at the best of my ability and the best knowledge that I have to be kind of in the top three in the world in natural bodybuilding. And one interesting story along the way with that was really a very close friend of mine, who's not with us now, who passed away from a brain tumor. And he went in and he had two brain tumors and he died several years after. And he was only young, 40 years old. And the first competition I'd won in the South Australian and the novice Australian bodybuilding, he dubbed me in. There was a new TV show coming up. It was really. It was one of the first TV shows about TV reality shows. And it was about not the manpower bodybuilding or manpower. It was about the stripped, you know, men that go on stage and. And kind of revealing their body, but obviously not naked. It's not the full monty. Yeah. And so. And so from that, he dubbed me in and enlisted me into trialing out for the. For the new strip search. It was called Not Manpower. And anyway, so I wasn't confident and I wasn't comfortable to go in and trial out. But they. But there was 400 interviews that. The whole kind of movie scene that went around Australia and interviewed 400 guys around Australia. And they come down to their final 20 and I made the final 20 and they flew a whole film crew out to Broken Hill. And then it was actually quite funny. I had a few mates at home and it was quite staged and whatever else. And to kind of cut the chase a little bit, there they were setting everything up with the cameras inside the house. And this is Broken Hill? Yeah, like, this is. This is like right out in the middle of nowhere that sectioned off streets. I had film crews coming into my house and whatever else, and everyone's like, shit, what's going on? I had to find confident, sign confidentiality agreements that. Because obviously it's a TV show, I suppose it's a bit like Big Brother and all these other TV shows that you're not allowed to reveal who kind of makes it until the end. And so here I am outside, they're filming me, I've got the barbecue going, a few mates out there. I've gone and bought myself a $25 shirt. I look pretty snazzy with this 20. Ripped it off, you know, while I'm doing a dance and whatever else. And it landed on the barbecue. The shirt caught fire while cooking frozen sausages. So it was quite staged. But, hey, listen, at the end of the day, I made the final cut in, which was the TV show called Strip Search. So then from that, over about three or four months or six months, they flew 20 of us into. From wherever we were, into Sydney. There was New Idea TV Week and everything else, kind of trying to get us to Find out what the information was and what we're doing there and everything else. As we'd come into the Sydney airport, it was like film cruise and it was celebrity status. It was like, crazy. Here's this country boy kind of, you know, in this crazy situation where they brought us in from everywhere and all these film crews and everything else. And it was quite an interesting journey. And then I suppose the kind of finish off with this journey, it was. They had the opening, you know, they were eliminating people as we went, and there was only like 11 people that made the final cut. And because of where I was at literally only months beforehand with kind of competing in bodybuilding and. And my body fat percentage, I was quite lean or extremely lean and in the best shape of my life, to be honest with you. From a body composition point of view, but also athletic ability and everything else. Like, I was in my prime at 31 years old. It was amazing. And so. And when they brought these 20 people in from around Australia, I was the. The oldest. I was like the old buck in the crew. And everyone's kind of going, hey, listen, like, what are you doing? Like, you know, how did you get so lean? How did you get in such good competition, you know, in such good condition? And so there I was coaching the other 19 guys whilst they were doing film filming and all this stuff. And it was actually amazing. But it. But that's one story that I can kind of. I suppose I don't know whether to be proud of or to be disappointed with, because it's every time people kind of. Or I go out with a group of friends and say, hey, Kenny, like, what about when you're a stripper? And I said, hey, hey, listen, I was never a stripper. Yeah, like, it was never ever that. It was like, I made the TV show, and I was on about six or seven of the TV kind of shows that they made. I don't know whether it's available now. I'm sure it was ancient, because I'm like, that was 19 years ago now. 18 years ago.

I'll be typing it in your search engine.

Yeah, no, it was an interesting journey in that. In that part of my life. But from then, I met my wife. Not from the strip show, trust me, or from. From the movie show. I'd met her and. And decided that, yeah, traveling Australia, then traveling the world as a. As a dancer, getting down into a G string wasn't kind of the right journey for my future in my life.

That's incredible, Ken. Jeez, mate, I'll Tell you what, it's really funny how you just. You blast across decades of life experience. Not like it's nothing but just casually in your stride. That's unbelievable even to have all of these young blokes wanting you to coach and mentor them because of the physical shape you're in. And I guess all the way back, I mean, that. What a. What a piece you've just shared then, you know, all the way back from winning barefoot running races at high levels to diving into bodybuilding and then being top three in the world for natural, Which I'm always. I'm not skeptic, but I'm always cautious of what the term natural means, right? And someone could say, oh, yeah, I'm not on steroids. It's like, yeah, maybe not. What else. What else are you doing or taking? That's obviously superficially enhancing the body. And that's awesome to hear you say and promote how much you use the. Put your hand up. That was like me when I played rugby league. Like, I never had any issues with drug testing at all. Anytime that Asada would come out, it's like, okay, this is what it is. But. But then we'd say the odd footy player here or there, run and jump over the fence and run off in his car. Which is quite funny. Won't name any names. But, you know, obviously, obviously with Asada, there's, There's, there's party drugs too. It definitely, definitely wasn't. I don't believe that was performance enhancing. Some of those guys who tried to, I guess, steer clear of the system, but that's massive, mate. Like, for me, I guess when I write results and then I look at. Or when I see results and I look at the mindset behind it and how and why. How, like, where did this come from? I mean, I know there's. It seems like there's a lot of resourcefulness that you had to implement from being one of six, from losing your father early, from a lot of different changes in environment, from. From a lot of different hurdles in others perceptions of you in competitive arenas or sports to the country. But shit, man, like, becoming a natural bodybuilder and one of the best in the world, that's not easy. Like, what was the mindset behind this? Like, you're doing your sets and reps, you're training six days a week. There's gotta be a day where you're feeling down and out, I guess, you know, like, there's. And the guys listening to this or watching this will relate. Cause we're Not. We're not always humming at the time. Top. But what did you do? What was the resilience that you had throughout years dedicated to bodybuilding, to sessions where you've got to contract and squeeze the muscle till it's virtually going to explode? Like, there's a lot of. There's a lot of blood and sweat in what you've just explained pretty quickly made in your results. You know, I know that from what I've done with sport. And that's. That's no easy fate, mate. That's pretty. That's pretty hard. That's hardcore shit. Like it. How did you do it? And the mindset and the resilience and the persistence, like, share some of that stuff with us, mate.

Yeah. One of the things, I suppose what changed my whole thought process, and it's kind of hard to believe this, that the main thing for me was really when my dad passed away when I was 12 years old, that was one of the big things that. That really changed my perspective on life. I believe the reason for that being is that I was around a lot of people kind of from the age of 12 through to 16, growing up in Adelaide for four years of my life. It was a completely different environment. Going from the country where I didn't have a lot of interaction with people, and then moving into Adelaide and in a kind of low, lower socioeconomic kind of society in where like Elizabeth and around that area was a really, really tough life change for me. And because I didn't have a lot of stability around me when I. When I kind of moved from, like, you know, from those four years growing up in Adelaide, it was a very difficult transition part of my life, very difficult because of. I had to make decisions for myself. Like, at 12 years old, I don't listen. Like, I look at my daughter, who's 13 now, and I look at my son, who's 10, almost 11, and I think one of the big things for me was having to think about things before I reacted, knowing that when there was things put in front of me, whether it be the right or the wrong thing. I remember my dad telling me when I was young, you know, growing from. And remembering back as far as when I was 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 years old, when my dad was around, the one thing that will always stick in my mind is that he said, listen, son, you've got to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. And so some of those little things that you kind of, they stick in your mind. And so when My dad was no longer there. There was many other things that he'd said to me along the way. We used to go fishing every. Every two or three weekends out in Broken Hill. We used to head down to Menindee Lakes. But, I mean, there was a lot of things there that literally didn't really sink in at the time. But when all of a sudden I had all this time in the world from the age of 13, 14, 15, 16, then you had to sit down and I had a lot of time to kind of shed tears and think about, what am I going to do with my life? How am I going to cope with different things? And there was a lot of times where I was home by myself, I'd go to school, my mum wasn't about to help me out in any way. I didn't have my brothers and sisters around me because they were out doing things and I was just kind of spending a lot of time by myself and I really had to make decisions for myself around what am I going to do? Am I going to be successful in life? Am I going to make decisions to kind of move with my cousins who weren't really had the right mindset in life to be successful other than kind of to head towards criminal activities and whatever else they were involved in, you know, substances that I knew that weren't right for the body. They were involved in all sorts of things that just wasn't right with me, wasn't right for my core values, my ethics and everything else. So really, I think more so for me, I just had a lot of time to think about things where I was left alone. And again, like, I had a lot of emotional build up because I hadn't dealt with the loss of my father and many other things. And I think we all have the ability to be sitting on the fence and which way we fall or which way people can kind of give us direction. If we're there and we've got some people there or someone there to kind of lean on a little and give us some direction, then you have to actually make the decision yourself. You have to actually realize that whatever decision you make, you have to live with. And so in the end, for whatever reason, my ability to focus, my ability to stay strong, my ability to succeed in life was just my internal focus. I can't really put it down to any one thing, but all I knew that my emotional, my internal churning and the loss of my dad and everything else really created a, I don't know, maybe a fire in my belly that then made me realize that I don't want to see my family whenever I decide to grow up. And if I have a family, I don't want to see them grow up without a father or without a mother or with severe loss around them because it was just too difficult for me. And I just didn't really understand how to deal with it. And hence, many, many years down the. As I've spoken in a previous podcast, I've never chosen to go to drugs. I've never chosen to go, you know, to alcohol. I've had the opportunity. I've been around a lot of people, don't get me wrong, but really, I suppose the fire in my belly was lit maybe when I. When I was 13, 14 years old, and realized that I had this natural physical ability and maybe this emotional ability to stay focused in some way, shape or form. Maybe it was because of my nutrition, maybe it was because of many factors. But then we didn't have the technology, we didn't have the understanding of how the body works and whatever else. And so now, now that at 50 years old and with what we have and at our fingertips with the information, with everything that we can access now, it's crazy not to be able to realize that we can improve our self in any way, shape or form. As we talk about physical, emotional and chemical, there is so much information out there, but you've just got to have the ability and the time to sit through the shit or access people like you and I. It's really a difficult journey for everyone. It's never an easy ride. I talk about it, life is one big roller coaster, and you hopefully get off when the roller coasters at the bottom of the, of the big, you know, the big hoop or whatever it is, you don't want to get off at the top because then there's lots of consequences. There's lots of emotional stuff that we all have. But how we deal with it really comes down to the individual person. And that's why, I suppose I really haven't answered the question completely as clear as I would like to have, because there is a lot of stuff going in my life. Like, I just don't understand how I can pinpoint or can tap onto anything. And one really kind of thing that I want to share with a lot of people. And this is something that's really, also. That's really intense for me, growing up in the country and growing up when my, when my, you know, like 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, like when we talk about the gay community and stuff, like that. Like, I deal with the gay community every day, every week. I train people and I don't judge anyone, just, I'm just there to help people. That's, that's my legacy. This is what I'm all about. And I, at 31 or at 30 years old, I went through a divorce. And it wasn't a bad divorce. My wife and I just grew apart, were married just under 10 years. And what happened was, is that, you know, we had my older son, Nicholas, who's now 28, nearly 29 years old, who's now finished his law degree at, you know, and been unbelievably successful in what he does. At the age of 17, he told his mum and I that he was gay. And that didn't affect me in any way. And people, a lot of people around me that know me, like, hey, listen, you know, you're this male, you know, this guy that's a bodybuilder, that's played footy, lived in a country like, hey, listen, how does that sit with you? I said, well, why would you even ask me that question? Because in reality, like, that doesn't bother me. Like, it doesn't make me feel any different about my son. Who's, who's, you know, I'm just proud that he was able to tell me that at 17 years old that he was gay. And you know what? It doesn't change anything about the way I think about him, the way I feel or anything else. And so that was a big thing for anyone in the country to deal with, especially 20, 30 years ago. That's a major thing that people deal with. And I think with all the upbringing and all the learning, like, listen, if my dad was alive, like, I know he's from old school, he would have kind of, he maybe wouldn't have agreed or wouldn't have been comfortable with my son being gay at 17 years old, which put me at literally, you know, in a situation where we've evolved in the last 10, 20, 30 years, we've evolved and we need to evolve and that's why we need to stay up to date with our own well being, our emotional well being, our physical wellbeing and everything else. And that's why when we deal with doctors and we deal with any allied health professional, if they're not staying up to date with this information, well, then how are we going to evolve as society, as a nation, as a global entity, how are we going to evolve? People need to understand that we need to evolve and need to accept and understand the Information that's at our fingertips and get off your ass and put in the hard work. And that's what I've done in 50 years. I put in the hard work and the results show. I'm a proven protocol of results show. And that's what it's all about.

Yeah, you know, and I appreciate the insights, Ken. I think you did answer the question. And that's the crazy part. Life isn't clear. So when you talk about not really clearly answering the question, that I think that the answer to your question is getting as much clarity as often as possible. And having that channeled through your focus and your internal focus and drive. That's what I got from it anyway, mate. Because from everything you're telling me, all the different hurdles and the landscape changed. Yes. With whether you're the minority, the majority in certain areas, elements, orientations in life, this is life where there are different moving parts and different landscapes that you and I do not control. But what you can control is what's inside of you and what are you going to do about it. So well done, mate, and big credit to you because yes, some of the old guard and the old school would be that way and climb where they'd be resistance, just like some of the extremes on the other end are trying to shove it down everyone's throat as well. So it's quite an interesting dynamic to find ourselves in a world where really, why don't we just focus on what we and control? And that's my biggest takeaway from what you share with me. I mean, the bodybuilding, you know that you've done it. Your element of focus and getting clarity around where you're going, why, and why that's important to you is the pinnacle to anyone's success. So those fathers listening to this, it's interesting that the philosophy behind your bodybuilding journey, your athletic journey, your transition into now, helping countless people, you know, as a real professional industry that continually evolves and grows and changes himself is a really inspiring one. It's actually intertwined with life as a man, as a father, as a member of community, as a leader. Because it goes hand in hand, mate. And that doesn't mean you guys listening to watch this need to be like the picture I posted last week of getting up on stage. But I got a few comments from that, a few personal messages and like, yeah, that's my trainer, you know, it's awesome. But it is definitely linked. And that doesn't mean I don't believe how you do one thing is how you do everything. I'm very relaxed, laid back at times in certain areas of my life, Ken, I'm very submissive, even to my wife in certain areas. Absolutely. You want the floor, that's yours, you take it, you take reign over this area. That's your domain, Corrine. That's your field of excellence. You dominate that. And then at other times, mate, you won't move me an inch from a certain position. So I think it's important though, as an overruling principle, what you shared, mate, is, is definitely a valuable life lesson because no one was there to either guide or steer you. And that's nothing against your family or your circumstances.

But when you have, when you're forced or you have the opportunity to be resourceful and find your path whilst it leads to a lot of. Or it comes from a lot of breakdowns, Ken. I believe a lot of the breakthroughs come. My breakdowns in sport, in injuries, in my marriage, in business, all of those breakdowns actually led to breakthroughs and from which I became better. And I'm sure you'll agree, mate, from all your different careers, even the short lived one of strip search. But we'll save that one for another day. But that's incredible. I think the big thing is what you said and I'm living and breathing it now. The opportunities, the opportunities that come when you continually explore yourself and improve. Like I didn't wake up one day, mate, you know, when Stella, my firstborn was born and gone. Okay, I'm gonna, we're gonna start something called high performance father. Like it found me. And that sounds really weird and it sounds like I didn't have any control, but it's such an intuition that you have where you, you put the feelers out to consistently seek growth and universe.

Life, it finds you, man.

And if you, if you disagree, if you don't listen to your gut, it will push you into the lesson you need to learn. And that can be, that can be heartbreaking at times, especially if you don't pay attention to yourself. And I guess I love to, you know, as we start to wrap this up, peel into or roll into, obviously you know where that took you from that bodybuilding era into your late 30s and 40s, to you serving people and ultimately in today's world, optimal health.

Everything that's going on with the world.

At the moment, all the shit going on and what to know, what to understand, how to apply it to you.

Yeah, mate, it's funny because again, and what you tap on or touch on there is our current situation. With what we're dealing with and lockdowns and whatever else. And it's a tough situation for a lot of people because people are affected, you know, businesses, their potential to earn income and things like that. So we are, we are moving into areas that people aren't comfortable with. Like listen, myself, I like routine, I like having that routine. I like to be able to kind of get up in the morning, I like to be able to do my training, I like to be able to get through my routine that I put in place. I like to kind of do my breathing techniques and my breathing work of a morning, I like to be able to go through that. But once there's a speed hump or whatever within that routine, then it creates a little bit of anxiousness, it creates a little bit of anxiety. It kind of myself like I'm a very big believer in once you've got routine, you know, you need to kind of create habit and then from there then kind of branch off of that once, you know, you've successfully, I suppose achieve your goal in whatever you're trying to do. And so I think like the traditional medical definition, health is the absence of disease. And like when I talk about kind of how do we optimize one's health or how do we optimize anyone's performance, it's really about looking at who's got any pre existing conditions. And we have to go in search for any pre existing conditions. And that's where we break into the physical side of things. Is your body composition optimal or are you carrying an extra five or ten kilos? Do you have an injury? So is it coming from the physical point of view and then from the emotional side of stuff. Any pre existing conditions that you may have, or vitamin deficiency or mineral deficiency or poor nutrition is all going to be affected and it's going to create a cascade effect. Like disease is man made. And so when people are trying to tell us to take different supplements and whatever else, you've got to have the information to back this up. And so my biggest thing is that make sure that when we look at moving forward to optimise our health and to optimise our performance, make sure that you are consistent with what you do, make sure you create a habit and then from then you need to be able to measure it. In what we do, you need to be able to measure your performance. As in whether it be your sleep performance, whether it be business performance or personal, no matter what it is you need to have, you need to be able to measure those Incremental wins on the board every day or weekly, whatever it may be. But I mean, like, at the end of the day, until now, only a smart, small percentage of the population have experience on how to maximize their biological systems to optimal levels. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to give you the information, and we're implementing this information on a daily and weekly basis so that you can become optimal in what you do. And so that's really important that we from the high performance team are there to help you in getting the best out of what you're presenting with. Again, not knowing what the underlying conditions are with what you're presenting with. We are chipping away. Chipping away again. We are the master sculptors to be able to work on you as the individual and to try and bring whatever it is that you need up to optimal level. And that's what we're trying to do.

Yeah, it's a critical thing. That's why coaching is so important, Ken, whether you guys connect to us as coaches and the transparency, because we show you and we'll show you everything, and we'll continue to do that through our episodes, whether you feel connected to us or not. Coaching is important. You know, I have coaches. Ken's my coach. He's my energy coach. So it's critical that you have that because you must build a weekly cadence and rhythm to your life, Ken, and that comes down to a daily cadence and rhythm, and that comes down to applying true power to your life, which is knowledge, but not knowledge alone. Action and reflection. It's a trifecta, man. You must rinse and repeat this. Because the position that Ken's coming from and we all come from, in acquiring the right information, making it relevant to you, especially with all the different challenges, a lot of you in lockdowns at this stage and all the other shit going on, really, the information applied to the action, reviewed and reflected upon being your course to move through whatever situation or environment you're facing, that's the answer. And that on a compounding level, as I'm sure Ken would agree, from sets and reps to becoming a bodybuilding champion, to building habits and your belief systems and your routines. That's the difference, isn't it, Ken? Like having those little.

The compound.

Interesting.

Absolutely.

Little wins every day. Every day. What's a big piece of advice that you'd love to give these guys? I guess there's obviously many life lessons you've learned, but I love some of the stuff you've shared today. And I've written a couple of bits as well. I love the saying honest days work for an honest day's pay. Here's the kicker though. You guys listening to this? You think we're talking about just money? How about you doing honest days fucking work on your body and your health to get that pay? You know what your pay is? You get to live another day and you live another day with optimal health and you live another day in control. How about an honest day's work with your relationships and your family and your wife? Because guess what? When you're putting an honest day's work in that area of life, you're going to get the wife that you want as well. So it's really interesting, that saying you mentioned, Ken, from your father. I've heard that so much in my life and I've dismissed it and just gone, yeah, cool, that's a cool saying. But I can actually peel the layers back as a father, business owner and man looking to make his way in the world and live with opportunities. Health where mate, that's a universal law everywhere, in every area.

Yep, absolutely. And I think one of the things also like kind of, I just kind of want to end on is that because it's in our face all day, every day. Like all disease is simply a result of nutritional deficiency. And so people that don't understand what they're doing on a day to day basis and just winging it and just trying to, trying to literally get up that morning and not having a game plan within their physical, emotional and chemical wellbeing. If they don't know what's going on then really it's just every day is the same. How can they ever advance themselves in their physical relationships or in their business relationships? How can they be successful if they're not practicing what we are preaching right now? Like it's so important that I know people go through different stages of their life. Whether you know, and that's just part of the journey, that's part of the roller coaster we go through. But I just don't understand why people are continuously over and over again complaining about things and not wanting to do anything about it. Like really, that's what just surprises me. And you know, listen, if you've got an opinion, that's great, keep it yourself, whatever you want. If it's not about improving your life or the people around you or the, or your friends, well then just keep your own busted ass opinions to yourself. Because I deal with this every day. Every day people want to try and change or Try and implement their thoughts when you know what, from a business point of view, when it comes to making business and money decisions, hey, listen, I'll put my hand up and say I'm bloody terrible at it, but you give me someone's health, you give me a human body and I promise you I can pull it apart from limb to limb, from layer to layer and tell you what you're doing right and what you're not doing right. Yeah, like that's what it's about. And then I can create a journey for you, for your circumstances, for your individual situation. But again, like, there's only so much that you can do for a person and if they don't want to take this information or this knowledge on board, well, then good luck to you. And that's just what it is. And that's why I'm forever doing the best I possibly can and giving the best information that I have at my fingertips to help people improve. And listen, we may look back in 5 years, 10 years time and say, shit, what a big whirlwind. But I can tell you what, I'll still be living my life to the maximum in 5 and 10 years and 20 years and so on, and that's what it'll be. And like I said, you know, the average male in Australia lives to the age of 82.75 years. Let's get off our lazy ass and start really living our life. Let's enjoy it while we can. Let's make the most out of it. Let's live until we die. Yeah, not just live the days until we die, let's actually live until we die. That's what it's all about for me.

Love it, Ken. And that's why you're here, mate. Because we hang off every word that you say and what you preach because you are living embodiment of it. And you're right, you know, those listening to this, even if you're in your 30s, at best, you've got a couple hundred thousand hours left and you're dead. You know, that's assuming that you live to be 82. And that's not taking into account the quality. Just like Ken reinforced and reiterated there. Let's actually live. And I couldn't agree more, mate. We'll finish on that and that point on advancement. That's what life is about, like advancement. The world is advancing. Your age advances every year, one number at a time. Yet people don't inside of themselves. And that's where the whole hypocrisy of doing themselves in comes down when they throw their hands up and point outwards instead of looking inwards. Or like you said, having opinions where you say yes to something which is detrimental. Not nurturing yourself and your health and your family. Which means you're saying no to nurturing yourself, your health and your family. It's binary, man, what we focus on. You say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. But phenomenal episode. Ken, thank you again for joining us, mate. Love it. As always. Make sure you guys tune in for another HBF session. We'll roll out, obviously other sessions throughout the week, but our high performance father sessions every Tuesday. Love it. It's awesome. Catch it on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud Anchor, our own RDM podcast page as well. It's awesome. Just for those of you guys, just to finish on this, you're hearing those pings and those noises and those notifications in the background. That is, yes, confirming your thoughts. That is strip search. The equivalent of manpower. Getting back in touch with Pen. They want him to make a comeback and come out of retirement. That's why it's pinged about eight fucking times. But they caught wind of this session, mate. They're listening.

I know they're on. I'm ready to slide down the fireman's pole.

Come back. Thanks again, mate. Thanks guys for tuning in and we'll see you again soon.

Cheers.

1,000 minutes a day, it's a lot. But when you're wasted on shit that doesn't serve you or move yourself or your family forward, you are bleeding the most valuable resource that you and I never get back. How many, how much time do you think you have? And how much quality do you think you've had? Don't be a fool like the masses, thinking you'll cheat the system or get round to it one day or worse. Just accepting life and sinking back into a slumber of regret. This is your moment, your time. You're cut from a different cloth. You have the hunger and desire to be more and live more. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. So stand up, find the golden nuggets. In this episode, you just listened to and align immediate action with them and where you want to go, you are worthy. This is your life. You are the king. And this is your kingdom. Now go and claim it by showing, not telling, and be the real leader. You and I both know you were born to be.