10 Quality’s to Become the Man - Rob Lipsett

YouTube has been the most, like, helpful health improvement thing that I've ever done. Get your same dopamine spike. You know, also you could go have sex with a woman as well.

Yeah. You know, get in a relationship.

Yeah, get in a relationship.

You have all the sex you want.

It's the biggest cop-out ever for guys going after porn.

I do believe that if everyone got, like, as fit and healthy as they could, 90% of the problems would disappear.

How do you believe men could reclaim and empower themselves? Themselves by becoming more masculine.

Men used to want to be called masculine, you know.

And it feels good.

First thing, men need to stop being ashamed of being masculine or wanting to be masculine. What's your biggest life advice? And they all say like the biggest one is the partner. Here's another one as well. It's like a kind of a theory. I've never really heard anyone say this. This is first, right? Of course, if you don't attract the best partner you possibly can, then it's higher likely that your relationship is going to end in divorce.

To admire their partner. They want to look at them and go He's the fucking man.

Yeah. Oh, just perfectly said. Like, my biggest relationship advice: stay in shape.

Where does your source of vitality come from?

Yeah, so there's a few things. Like, if you want to be like in the top 1%, just be lean. Like, you're literally an outlier.

What is it that you value in life?

I know the answer to. It is not even values. There's only like one value.

What is it that you want to be remembered for or as?

I want to be remembered for— it sounds stupid.

Go for it.

Like, just being like that.

Now, before we jump into today's episode, this podcast is brought to you by the Bond Brothers. And the question I have for you is, wouldn't you want to be walking around feeling like the man? I feel like that's a complete no-brainer. There's a real psychology behind how we dress, and when we look sharp, we move differently. And that's where the Bond Brothers come in. Irish Groomswear Supplier of the Year with their premium store in Goatstown. They offer luxury wedding suits, tuxedos, and expert personal fittings to make sure that you show up like a man on a mission. Head over to the Bond Brothers Instagram and contact Brendan, and he will make sure that you walk away looking dapper. Bond Brothers. Where confidence is tailored. Mr. Rob Lipsett, how are we doing, sir?

What's up, James? This is a beautiful setup. This is a nice welcome home.

Yeah, man, I said, you know, if I was gonna get you on the podcast, it'd have to be something special. And I've been inspired by Mr. Chris Williamson, who does these kind of cinematic shoots. So I was like, let's make our own version here in the Grace. And so, um, yeah, it's just the big thing for me is make people feel important in life. Yeah, make people feel important. So I hope that comes across Um, but tell me, I've been dying to have this conversation. Initially I was hoping we'd do it in Marbella. Obviously didn't see the message at the time.

We could do round 2.

We can do round 2 at some stage, man. And, um, yeah, man, I've had this conversation in my head of imagine what it would be like for so long, played it out, and now it's mad thing we're actually here. Yeah, that's the first question I have is, Rob, you've created your own world. How much influence do you believe that we have in creating our own realities?

So before we get into things, thank you so much for putting in the huge effort here. And what I, what I always do, and this is a really good tip for anyone who wants to start a podcast and they're like, they're on guest zero and they want to get to guest 20 and they've got essentially like no leverage, no bartering. Like I was like, hey, yeah, sure, I'll do it. Who you've got on before?

You're like, no one.

What you can do is, and anyone can do this if you put in a high quality production, because then the guest gets a really cool video, you know, and they get a good interview as well. And they get, you know, they can make some short form out of this or they can use it. And so when you did that and you did all this, I was like, yes, of course, no-brainer. And you know, if you keep this up, it's going to be a really big podcast. So yeah, first of all, thank you for having me on and thank you for the effort. And then, so your question, yeah, creating your own reality.

So like, obviously you've created this world over the past 10 years, which is incredible, and it's probably everything that you envisioned initially. But how much influence do you believe that we have over creating our own worlds? Because I know you've touched on The Secret before, was one of the first books you picked up. How much influence do you think of, you know, manifesting your own world?

Yeah, so some people, they say manifestation or visualization, it's all like BS, it's all woo-woo. And it is, it is as real as it gets. So what I do, um, okay, so first of all, I used to be like super negative, think Everything in my life was going nowhere, and at the moment I read The Secret, like, I can't—

I feel so corny and lame saying like that's—

that was my breakthrough moment, but it was.

It just taught me that think differently for one day because your thoughts create your reality. Yeah. So if you start thinking differently, it changes the world you live in.

Yeah. And it changed it literally immediately. Like, if you wake up and you're like, oh look, fuck it, I'm just going to try out having the— looking at the best possible outcome to everything for today, and I'll just see how my day goes, and you're gonna have a better day that day. Like, it doesn't even take 90 days to kick in or anything. You just start having more positive thoughts and viewing things optimist— in an optimistic way. Yeah, you're gonna have a better day straight away. So I started doing that, and I got a taste for it, and I'm like, oh my God, you know, my day's going a lot better. And then I take it one step further, and this is my visualization process, okay? I'm very specific with something that I want to happen And then I don't just think about the thing I want to happen, I think about it actually happening to me, and I replay it in my mind every 3 seconds.

Yeah, I mean, like, autistically replay it.

That is so, so key because it's like, whatever you're trying to manifest in life, you've got to have the discipline of the manifestation.

Yeah.

So you were playing that over and over again. Yeah, it's like you're almost living it. Yeah, you're creating up here, and then this was morphing into real life.

I'm just like, this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen. I'm replaying the exact moment. So for an example of something that I did, it was like one of my first public speaking engagements.

Yeah.

And like, I was obviously really scared to go out on stage and talk in front of a crowd. Uh, it was, it was way before that.

Oh, okay.

Actually, do you know what? It was my first ever public speaking engagement. It was actually for Suzanne Jackson. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. So Sumi.

Yeah.

She like, you know, which she was doing like a makeup seminar. And we're friends for years, and she's like, hey, you know, all these women as well, they want to get fit and lose weight and stuff. Can you like give some basic nutrition talk?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, sure, you know. And so I went on The video is on YouTube if you find it. Maybe it's like video number 10.

How many years ago is this?

Oh, like, I mean, 2014.

Like, okay, so you're literally starting out.

I know, this is one of my first videos. I walk on stage and yeah, I did great. And I just replayed that moment in my head, walking on stage and speaking to a crowd and just coming off clearly and everyone laughing in the crowd and being engaged. And that was one of the first things I ever did, like, in terms of visualizing an exact scenario that I wanted to happen. And then you can do that with anything, like, you know, you want your wedding day to go well, if you want to visualize your physique looking a certain way.

Have you done that by any chance?

Yeah, exactly.

I Greg Pitt posters on my wall, and I just replay the image, or the— like, it's like a little 3-second image that I want happening. I replay that into my head so much to the point where it ends up happening.

Yeah.

Another thing I do is like— so I'm big into journaling and writing. Again, I don't do like a big Dear diary, today I, I just, I actually, if you were to read it, it actually wouldn't make any sense. I just jot down like words and bullet points of like what things I'm grateful for, what I need to get done today, just jot everything down. And one thing I do as well in my calendar diary book is I'll go to, I'll skip forward like months and weeks and I'll write something that wants to happen, that I want to happen on that day. And I swear to God, like I'll forget about it because it's weeks and months, but once you put it out there, it's physical. Like, you've actually written it and it's now in the physical world. And I swear to God, it just ends up happening, and it happens like on the day. It's scary.

Do you attach emotion to it as well? I know you mentioned gratitude there. You mentioned gratitude a lot, which I love, man, because there is a great degree of appreciating life. And when you appreciate something that you not necessarily have now but will come into existence in your own life, in your own reality, it draws it closer to you. So if you can attach the emotion of like freedom, gratitude, love, enjoyment, excitement for something. You're excited obviously for your event coming up. Yeah, it's like you draw that experience closer to you. How fundamental is kind of gratitude and other emotions of power for yourself? I know you mentioned gratitude there, but like, how do you use them, should I say?

Yeah, so gratitude is like the highest vibration that you can, you can feel. No, I swear to God. And like, it's such a buzzword, like, because you see it on Instagram, you see it in like little Instagram quotes, but gratitude, yeah, man, peace, love, and gratitude. And it kind of loses its effect, but it's honestly the most powerful emotion, most powerful vibration.

Yeah.

And the reason for that is it's actually— if you're truly grateful, it's, it's actually physically impossible for you to be unhappy.

But you've got to feel it.

Yeah, yeah, it has to be a true thing. And so a lot of people, like, they're just drawn through life, they're like NPCs, and they don't think of anything really, and they don't stop and smell the roses, and they don't actually— they're not actually grateful even though they say they are. And like, you got to go really deep on it. And it's like, the more the more mundane stuff that you are grateful for, the more powerful it will be. So I'm always like, I'm grateful for Wi-Fi. Yeah, I'm grateful for food in my fridge, you know, like clean clothes, water, everything, stuff that you have every day. Yeah, but, uh, 90— like a huge percentage of the world don't have that, and then we just all take it for granted. So yeah, you know, and it's like, how can you complain? Like, you've literally got running water and Wi-Fi and a smartphone. And you live in like an English-speaking country where it's easy to do business and you can go to Lidl and Aldi or, you know, Marks Spencer's if you're really feeling, feeling flash. Yeah, like you've got all this and like so many people in the world just, just don't have that. Another thing I was thinking of as well, there's like actually very few like English-speaking countries. Like, you know, you've got like Ireland, UK, America, US, Canada, Australia, you know, like naturally English speaking. So that's a huge benefit in the business world. And so Ireland's like, how did Ireland slip in there? So it's so rare, just all the opportunities we have to make it. It's like there's no excuse. So gratitude, it comes from just being extremely grateful for the small things in life that we all just take for granted every day. And if you're actually truly grateful, it's impossible to be unhappy.

Yeah, and I love that, man. I often think as well, the more blessings that you count in life, the more things you'll find to count as well. So it's like once you find something, one thing to be grateful for, then there's another thing, and it just adds and adds and adds. And like you said, be grateful for things that are not existent in your world right now but will become existent at some stage. You mentioned gratitude. I am fascinated with emotions. So I read, um, Tony Robbins' book Awaken the Giant Within recently, and he talks about like 10 powerful emotions. You mentioned gratitude, love will be there, excitement. What you do for the world as well as contribute, like when you're giving back, when you're of service to the world. What other emotions do you tap into? Because you're very aware of this stuff, like you understand the power of like these heightened emotions which almost give you a greater degree of love and excitement and, you know, once again, appreciation for the world. What other emotions do you tap into to kind of fuel yourself? Because you have this larger than life persona.

Yeah, it's, it's perspective.

Perspective.

Yeah, no, no, no matter what, just I always have this huge perspective. And I think that's because I used to hate my day-to-day life.

Okay.

And like when I was waking up in the morning to go into like a job that I hated in Dublin, I was commuting, you know, 9 to 6, and then like I'd get home and like I would just— I would, I would look at my day and I'm like, no way can I, I have to do that forever. I hate my day, that sucks. And now that I have my dream day-to-day life. Like, I really do actually have— I think I've got the best life in the world. Like, honestly, I think I've— me, Mike Thurston, Louis had this conversation. We actually think the three of us have the best life in the world because we know celebrities, actual celebrities, and we do like the same shit, but we don't have like, you know, you've got so much freedom, all the trouble that comes with that. Like, we've got like that perfect balance of like, we've got a great audience, we just get to travel around and train and work out in the sun all day and meet cool people and eat nice food and work on projects that we love. So anyways, so back to perspective. So my trademark quote on my channel is that don't compare your chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 10. And that's all about perspective. And so when we're at chapter 1, you're on chapter 1 right now on your podcast. And so you could look at Chris Williamson, who you mentioned, he's on chapter 10, and you could be like, oh, why don't I have the guests he's got on? Or why don't I have the sponsors? Why? And it's so easy to compare yourselves and look at where everyone else is and like compare ourselves to like cars, holidays, our partners, our houses, where we live, money in the bank, money in the bank, physique.

Physique.

You go to gym, year one is chapter one, and you look at people who've been training for 10 years, or in my case, 15 years.

Yeah, it's actually getting ridiculous at this stage.

Playing catch-up already.

Yeah, exactly.

And we are always comparing ourselves and you need to have Perspective.

Perspective.

You need to look at where you started at, and you need to just compare. The only person you should compare yourself is, is who you were.

Yeah, like Marcus Aurelius says, you know, comparison is the thief of all joy.

Yeah.

And like you said there, comparing yourself, your chapter 1 to someone's chapter 10, it's like you'll only get disheartened.

Yeah.

And like, I like what you finished with there, it's like just compare yourself to who you were maybe a month ago, 2 months ago.

Yeah.

Keep making progress.

Yeah.

Because you've had a lot of personal growth over the year. Over the years, should I say, personal growth and development. What's been like a key instigator and all that? Like, what's, what's something you're always striving towards? I know you're very goal-oriented, but like, how do you keep that momentum and that drive going the whole time?

Yeah, for sure. So one quick one as well that I want to finish off with, like the comparison and everything. So one thing that I didn't do at the start of my journey was compare myself. I actually just did— I didn't, didn't do it. I just had— I was so driven to make like this career in the fitness industry work that I actually just didn't even look around me. And I was also the only one in Ireland doing it, so like, I, I would only— I would know one— no one that I knew that I would compare myself to, you know. And so when I got like 100 subscribers, I was like, oh my God! And then I got like 1,000 views on a video, and I was like, oh my, I've made it! Yeah, yeah, I'm the best!

Yeah.

Then I got like 1,000 subscribers, and I'm just like, this is not— how's this happen? Did it happen Um, not really. No, no. I think I got like, in two first two years, I got like 19,000 subscribers. So when— and then when I hit— yeah, it was solid. I could quit my job off that, actually. If you have 19,000 subscribers on YouTube, you can quit your job. But when— then when I got to 100,000 YouTube subscribers, I'm like, oh my God, I'm still so excited. But I think that first 1,000 was the best feeling ever.

It's a breakthrough.

Yeah, you're just like, it's all so new. But I did never compare myself to people with like 500,000, 1 million, you know. Eventually now we're pretty there. Yeah, but I never did that at start, and that's what allowed me to be in the— that's why I'm the OG. That's why I keep going, because I literally just never compare myself, and I'm just like, every day it's a win for me.

Yeah, you know the guy— what's that meme? And it's like, uh, 3 people on a pedestal celebrating, and the guy that's coming third place is like spraying the champagne, and the people with the first and the second medals, they're just like looking at them.

Who is this guy?

Oh yeah, I'm the guy in third place, just like, yeah, I'm the best!

Just Proud of who you are.

Exactly, exactly.

So that's just one final thing on comparing yourself. You're gonna have a way better time.

Yeah, definitely guaranteed. And tell me, so, so the drive element, like obviously you're a very driven guy, but what kind of maintains that drive that you have? Or like, do you have many desires in life? Is it, is it numbers, or what is in particular?

Yeah, so I, I actually like got to a phase there where I achieved everything I wanted.

Yeah, no, like I mean, oh no, genuinely.

And I was like actually demotivated for a while.

Like, I, I got complacent as well.

And but then, so I'll explain. Like, my original goals were always like to, you know, get a big YouTube channel, transform as many lives via fitness as possible, and live a day-to-day life of freedom where I can like wake up and just like do whatever, cancel all my calls and work on the backyard. Just go— literally, that is Man, that is worth—

sometimes worth the call cancel.

Yeah, you know, and, and I'm like, I've gone stage where I can have, you know, slow mornings and everything. They were always my goals. Anything past that is just, it's just bonus. Yeah, you know, it's just bonus. Like, I really— there are the things that make me so happy, and they're actually not, they're not like extravagant, costly things. Yeah, being able to have a free schedule, get out in nature, eat health food, and train, train.

It's a very simple life when you break it down.

Super simple life. Yeah, you know, and even, uh, you know, guys like, you know, Mike and Lou, we all— that's all we want either. Yeah. Know. And so a lot of time you think you've— your dream life, you need like the villa and the car and the watch and all this. It's like that— they're great and all, you know, but they're not really going to make you like— you're actually not going to make a difference to your day-to-day.

What's brought you— what's brought you then the most fulfillment in your own life?

Uh, definitely just a good partner.

Okay, partner.

Yeah, good partner.

Yeah, good, good relationship and good friends.

Okay, and tell me in the partner element, because I'm fascinated with the, you know, feminine masculine dynamics and the polarity between the two. What has Linda brought into your life in regards to even helping you in a career sense? Yeah, what's she doing for you?

Yeah, she is just like so feminine, like she's like a girl, she's like a Barbie doll.

Yeah, that's because you're so masculine.

Yeah, no, no, we joke about that.

Like, I mean, she's amazing, she's so soft, she's beautiful as well. She's always making me laugh. Like, the two of us, like, we cry laughing every single day. Like, the thing is, and we're laughing at this morning. And one of the, the best things I've ever experienced in my whole entire life— this, there was this moment, it's, it's a thing, but there was a few moments as well— traveling with the love of your life. Yeah, just traveling to a cool country, or, and you're just on the beach watching sunset with love of your life, and maybe you're sipping a margarita or whatever, or you're eating some nice food and you're just like not even talking and you're just like, and you're just taking it all in and you're just like, this is, this has made it, like, this is the best.

There's something to be said about being so comfortable in someone's company that you can just stay silent.

Yeah. Oh, of course.

Yeah, yeah. And like, who else would you rather travel the world with than like your best— they say your best friend or your companion.

It's not the same as someone, you know, like your male best friend.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, going to the Maldives when you're broke with your bro friend, gonna look kind of weird.

It's like, question, what's going on?

Yeah, exactly. Linda's like, what?

But no, there's something about just, you know, traveling with your romantic partner, it's just like, it's like a movie. You feel like you're in this like romantic movie, and, and it's just amazing. That's probably like the best experience that I've ever had, like, so far. Uh, I presume having a kid next month will be pretty— it would be pretty out of body, but Yeah, that's like, uh, that's like one of the best— that's the best thing ever.

It's right up there. What other feminine qualities does she have that like stick out in your mind as well?

She, she's definitely calm, very calm person. That's why she's pretty good for you because you're so high energy. She like calms me down, brings me down, and like just relaxes me. And that's why I'm also, um, very excited that she'll be a good mother as well. She's like so patient.

I'm always like, Linda, you're too patient! Come on, we need to work!

Yeah, early. And so yeah, it's a bit of a yin-yang thing.

Dynamic.

Yeah, we're like different personalities, but also like kind of the same. Like we all, we have the same worldviews. We agree on the same things, you know, no wokeism or anything like that. And yeah, we've—

only two genders.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, there is. Yeah, yeah.

Let's just clear that up.

We agree on that. Yeah, that's like, isn't that on some people's dating profiles?

They're like, if, if you think there's more than two genders, Gender is like, please swipe away. Anyways, Linda's great, uh, so we agree on like pretty much everything, but then we're also very different people at the same time.

So yeah, of course everyone's got different qualities. Yeah, one thing I definitely admire about you a lot, Rob, definitely over the years, you know, you're definitely that more relationship type of guy. Like, I think you see the benefit— and not even the benefit, but just the value— that is just being with the one person. Yeah, because like, you're definitely a high-value man, you have sex with any woman in the world you want. Like, that's how it is. But why in that case, right, because you've got so much power in that dynamic, why just choose the one woman? What do you like, your perspective on why that is the case for yourself?

Oh yeah, for sure. So I've been in like two, actually just two proper relationships.

Long term.

Yeah, long term. The other one was 6 years, then me and Linda are coming up to like 7 years. So that's like over a decade in relationships. But there have been like little 2 or 3 year gaps where like I have been single and dating and everything and it was great.

Yeah, it was great.

The bad boy era.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, the evil arc. Evil Rob.

And like, I remember there was the time where like, you know, socials was popping off, uh, just came off my 10 minutes on Love Island, and you know, I was going on like a lot of dates and everything, and like I was texting and DMing like a lot of girls, and, and it was chaotic, one, and it was taking up a lot of time, and it was a lot of just nothingness. Like, you just go on a date and you're just having small talk, you have overpriced cocktail, and there's some fun in there as well, and you feel a little bit like, oh, what's gonna happen next? Who am I gonna meet next? Um, but you know, it wears off. The excitement wears off pretty quickly, and then I'm definitely just— and your work definitely takes effect. Yeah, because like, it's a massive—

women are massive distraction for a man.

Huge.

That's why I think like having a woman by your side grounds you. Yeah, because you're no longer chasing.

Exactly.

It's like, yeah, you do still have to chase her, you do stuff, but not, not like— not like that.

It's not—

you're not chasing like many different rabbits.

Yeah, that's one. Right. And like, there was a time where I was like looking at my screen time and like messaging and everything. I'm like, this is just too much, like, you know? And so then I found Linda, or she found me even, or whatever you want to call it. I was having like an after-party in mine in Dublin. I was actually living in Dun Laoghaire at the time. And we all have loads of mutual friends, but we never met.

Yeah.

And so her friends are like, hey, can we bring up Linda, you know, to the apartment?

And I was like, I was like, let me think about it.

Yes. And she came up, love at first sight. Yeah, it's a connection. Yeah, honestly, like, we ended up just going towards each other in the room.

Like, just love is like a natural gravitas. I could describe it there, like, like you're just like, it just makes sense.

I think there's definitely someone that like, like, okay, so for example, we'd like gravitated towards each other straight away, and then we just spoke. We spoke for honestly like 5 hours and was like, no, I swear to God. Yeah, yeah, like the whole night essentially. And yeah, yeah, exactly. And then the whole night I'm like, never ran out of anything to say. And like, the conversation was never a struggle. And that's pretty rare to come by. Like, you're never like thinking of what to say and you're just laughing and everything.

And well, I guess like the proof's in the pudding, we end up getting married. So, so I guess, I guess that was love at first sight.

You know what they say, like marriage is just one long conversation. Yeah, one long podcast, one long podcast, man. Yeah, the thing is, like, you just, like, you, you just want to talk to this person forever, and that's how it should be. And that's a good indicator when you know you've found, you know, your partner.

Yeah.

And that night was October— it was actually Halloween. It was October 2018. And so, like, what, I don't know, 6, 7, whatever it is, and we, we still yap away to each other constantly.

We always say, like—

and you always have the memories. Yeah, yeah.

Where I was like, how do we still have stuff to say to each other?

And never— it's never gonna end.

No, I know.

Yeah, there is something so comforting about just having that other person in your life. Yeah, like they're so— they're probably the most important person in your life. Yeah, you know, and that's—

you can watch like billionaires, um, like, you know, those street interviews, like someone goes up to a billionaire and they're like, what's your biggest life advice? And they all say like the biggest one is the partner you choose. 100%. Like it can absolutely wreck your life, it can, it can enhance your life. Tenfold. And so just be— the thing is, what you got to do is like— here's another one as well. It's like a kind of a theory. I've never really heard anyone say this. I think it's my first. This is a first, right? Okay. You know the way 50% of marriages end in divorce, right? Well, 80% of guys are fucking losers, really. Like, 80% of guys hate their job, they're overweight, they don't pursue their passion, they don't care about their body. Yeah, they don't look after their body, therefore they don't look after their mind. And they, they attract low-quality women. Of course, if you don't attract the best partner you possibly can, then it's higher likely that your relationship is going to end in divorce. So it all kind of starts with like— does that not make sense? No, you know, I think that's pretty reasonable to say. Yeah, it works both ways. Same with a woman, you know. If you don't attract— if you don't work on yourself, yeah, be the best person you can be, you're not going to attract the ideal partner for you, and you're going to fall into that 50% that you don't want to be in.

Yeah, yeah.

But if you really, you know, you work on getting your whole life set up, attracting an amazing partner, well, then your chances are going to be a lot higher.

And the thing is, never stop improving.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, never stop growing. Oh, never stop going to the gym. Never stop reading. Never stop doing podcasts, whatever. Like, keep on growing and give them a— give them a reason to be proud of you and admire you. That's a big thing. Like, women want to be adored, but they also want to admire their partner. They want to look at them and go, he's the fucking man.

Yeah. Oh, it just perfectly said, like, my biggest relationship advice: stay in shape.

No, it's actually— it's actually it. Well, you take a passion in a relationship, that through sex.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

If you're having like—

trying to make sex look good, huh? You want your sex to look good. Yeah, you want to have sex with the lights on.

You want to feel confident in your body where you're like, that passion that just comes from that. Yeah, like you said, when you, when you start losing yourself, whether it's drinking too much, whether it's not hitting the gym, whether it's not developing yourself, you just, like you said, you're lowering quality.

It's actually disrespectful to your partner.

Very much so. That's so well said. Any other good relationship tips you've came across?

Yeah, uh, so as, as we were saying, it's a huge—

like, it's so like it's actually so important.

Yeah, I would actually love to do like just pure relationship, like talks with people.

Like some of, um, Mike's most viewed videos is with your one Sadia Khan. Yeah, she's excellent. Yeah, she's brilliant. She is like, like not a raging like feminist. She's like—

and gives great advice.

You think she—

because she's a woman, she'd just be biased towards women, but not at all. Yeah, like she gives completely fair advice. Yeah, yeah, about that.

It's all logical as well. It all makes sense. Of course.

Yeah, she's definitely a smart individual. But I love those podcasts. But yeah, so my best relationship advice is, so at first it starts with you. Yeah, like, don't blame women for your problems.

Like, oh, all women are terrible, social media has ruined women, they're all—

every woman is, is, uh, you know, this and that, every day I'm on her son. No, it is you. It is down to you. It is down to your maxing out your stats. Yeah, it looks maxing.

And to get— to get is—

I think it goes We will get back to the conversation in just a second, but if you're enjoying this episode, please leave a 5-star review, share with a friend, and make sure to hit that follow button for the next episode. And what this will do is just help the podcast grow and grow so I can get bigger and better guests as we go along. All the best.

It's about becoming honestly the best version of yourself, and you don't even go chasing after women because that can be quite, uh, desperate in a way. Obviously, it's to go approach, but ideally you want to make your life where not only amazing women but amazing men go into it as well. So that's the first thing. It all starts with you and just leveling yourself up like a video game. The next is when you're in a relationship is never stop dating. Yeah, never stop. Don't take things for granted because the moment you do, then you're just on the slippery downward slope.

Keep things exciting as well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

You know yourself, you're going different places all the time, you're flying everywhere as well. So that helps. Keep the excitement there.

Don't take your relationship for granted. Don't take Wi-Fi for granted.

Don't take water for granted. As soon as you do that, you're on the path to hell.

And then, uh, last third one, uh, kind of— it's kind of similar to the second one, but it needs to be said— is stay in shape. Stay in shape. Yeah, that is not— not only smart for your— you and your health and living longer and being the best person that you can be towards your family and everything, it's just respect towards your partner.

I like—

imagine if you just like, you just, you got your partner and you're in love and you just stop trying at work, you stop trying in your physique, you stop trying in life. That's so disrespectful.

Well, a lot of guys, as soon as they— I definitely experienced this in my first relation when I was younger. Like, you get a girlfriend— how long were you with, uh, this girlfriend in particular? Was a 3-year relationship, right?

Pretty long.

Yeah, pretty long. And like halfway through I kind of fell off a small bit. I noticed myself because like when guys have access to sex, you just— everything's just a bit easier.

Yeah, yeah.

It was like, like you said there, it's like you've got to stay in pursuit of like maintaining yourself to be desirable, to be attractive.

Yeah.

So you fall off that, it's like, why would she want to be with you?

Yeah.

You're not— you're no longer the man. Yeah. You have to keep on proving your worth. Like, it's every day. Like, it never stops. Yeah. Like, it's like when you wake up today, you've got to prove that you are the person that you say you are by your actions. That's where your actions are so important.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's funny as well, like, uh, I've gotten through some stages in life where I've got like complacent and lazy, like, because I'm like—

you have?

Yeah, yeah, well, compared, compared to like— yeah, compared to sometimes. Yeah, and because you're like, you're having sex, you know, these nice bougie dinners, you're traveling, you still got checks coming in, payments coming in, and you're just like, ah yeah, you know, I can take my foot off the gas. But no, you— that's taking your foot off the gas and being complacent and more relaxed is not what got you there. So there's like this lag time where you're like still getting all the benefits you worked for and you're not working hard enough, and then that will start to fall off unless you snap back into it. It's all right to have a chill month sometimes, but you need to always remember the work, the work ethic that got you to where you are.

Yeah. Do you find it, um, because you're very high energy guy, do you find it hard to relax, or what do you use? Oh yeah, help yourself.

Yeah, I have like insomnia most nights. Yeah, unless I do like like a very good evening routine. I, I like—

what's that look like?

Sleeping.

So, because sleep hygiene is huge, it's like, it's more important any fucking morning routine.

Yeah, because you don't wake up, you know, you know, if you don't do the evening routine properly.

So one thing that I've actually learned from Bryan Johnson, you know, the man that's gonna live forever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I like him.

I think he's a funny guy. He's doing cool experiments. I don't like, for example, he's vegan. I don't— I know he does it for ethical purposes, but there's a few things he does that I think are unnecessary. But I do there's a lot to learn. I, I like his channel. Um, one thing that he taught me and highlighted well was eating late at night and how it affects your sleep and your sleep score. Now, I would always— now, before we go, eating late at night, if your calories are in check, it doesn't affect fat loss, but it does affect your sleep, which does affect fat loss, will have a knock-on effect to fat loss. And so I was always like, I do intermittent fasting and I save like all my calories and like have a big huge meal in the evening.

Yeah.

And then like it's kind of like a rock in your stomach and mess up your digestion. It increases your heart rate because your body's trying to digest all the food.

Yeah.

And yeah, I noticed that when I stopped eating around like 6 or 7 PM, I would have a much better sleep. So that's the one thing change I've made in the last year to my routine that's actually made a big impact.

Yeah.

To my sleep. So there's that. That's the first thing I'll do around 6. Yeah, step one is like cut off eating. And two is reduce your water intake, similar to, you know, last one, you before you go to bed, before you go to bed, like start tapering it down. I still drink water in the evening, but just so you're not getting up to go to the bathroom of course, yeah, all night. Uh, I also like notifications stop coming in on my phone at 7:00 PM.

Brilliant.

Doesn't matter if it's the biggest emergency ever, I ain't, I ain't seen it, I ain't seen it.

You sleep more poorly.

Yeah, yeah, I'm just like, and it's just easier to wind down, like like, it's so easy for me to like— I'll get like an email or something and I'm like, I have to reply, I have to reply.

You're spiking your cortisol as well.

Don't have to reply, you don't. Like, and so that's another big thing I do is I'll cancel all notifications. Uh, always— I never have like the lights on in my villa, like I never have the big white lights above on. I always just have a few lamps on, so dim the lighting as well. And then, uh, just try— I also supplement I'll take like zinc, magnesium as well. Ghost have a really good melatonin product. You can only get it in America though, so always bring back a few tubs. But you don't want to be taking like melatonin every single night, you know, or you get a little bit reliant on it. But the nights when I really want like an epic sleep, I'll take a scoop of that. Oh, and it knocks you out. It's crazy. Yeah, it's got like, it's got loads of stuff in it. So it's got like a sleep stack in it, essentially.

Yeah.

So I have that. And then I just got actually like a few weeks ago, aircon like installed into every room. Like usually we just had it in the, like the living room and the upstairs. I've got now got like one above every bed.

So I sleep in like an igloo. Linda calls it the igloo.

I love that.

I sleep in the coldest room ever.

Blackout blinds, clean sheets, weighted blanket as well. It's sometimes nice. Feel like someone's pressing you down. And then if I do all that, then I'll have a great 7, 7 hours on average, I'd say 8, 8 sometimes, you know.

Are you a, uh, a mouth taper?

No, I, I've tried that and I— it doesn't make much of a difference. I've asked Linda, like, hey, when I'm like asleep, do I sleep with my mouth closed? And, um, she said no, so I'll be fine. But one thing, actually, once I like— I don't know if I would say bulk, I just like had a phase where I was eating more, like going out more and eating loads of dinners, and my weight spiked up to like, I think I was like 185 or something. And that's like just too big for me, you know? And I was like, my neck was like huge. And I noticed when I go over like 180, I start to snore and I start to get my sleep goes like declines and everything. Just 'cause like my, like your neck and you're like this and Linda's like, you're a windpipe. Snore, yeah, you snore, you're getting too big. You snore and everything. And so now I, I just stay lean, like, you know, stay around like 175 usually. And yeah, now, now I don't snore or sleep my mouth open. That's one thing I noticed. So that's mad. Yeah, keep, keep— that's also like, you know, the majority of the population is overweight. Like, actually the majority, which is so crazy. Like, if you want to be like in the top 1%, just be lean. Like, you're literally an outlier just by being lean. But also, like, think of the amount of people that have sleep issues and they're getting like CPAP machines, however they are. They're like having to tape their mouth and all this shit. And it's like, just get lean. Just like, it'll solve—

it's getting shape, it'll solve every problem, to be honest. Yeah, like, even when I'm like—

if when I'm stressed and stuff, or if I'm going through something stressful, if I'm like looking after my physique, I'm like, man, I'm shredded.

Yeah, you should feel— it doesn't matter.

I'm like, I handle everything better when I'm in good shape and feeling good.

If you just get a workout in.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh my God, man, there's days where I'm like, my world is falling apart, and I'll go for a walk, a swim, and a lift, and a healthy meal, and I'm like, yeah, it's not that bad, not that bad at all.

It's actually incredible.

Yeah, people are always like, that's too simple advice.

I'm like, oh, okay, it works. Whatever, whatever you say.

Sometimes just—

I'm like, have you done it?

Yeah, sometimes just getting out of your head and into your body it's just this inner peace and calm that you get from as well. It's incredible.

Yeah.

And there's one thing I'm very big into, and you've definitely— you've got this, uh, Rob Lipsett, is like self-mastery. So you've obviously mastered your body. That's where you built your business off as well. So you build your, you know, your whole platform is obviously investing in your physique. And like you said there, I think I remember hearing before on a podcast, you said if you were the president of Ireland, you would get everyone to work out and eat healthy.

Yeah.

Which, geez, what sort of population would you have then?

Imagine be warriors.

Imagine the GDP of that population now just producing so much more. People are so productive.

Everyone be so productive.

So productive.

Mental health would increase massively, which is a big issue in the country. Like, so this is actually— I would love maybe if we can find it and overlay it while we're talking. There was a government ad. I don't know what country it is. I, I think it was maybe Italy, or I, I don't know, it doesn't matter anyways. And they— it was a brilliant ad and it basically showed the life cycle of two individuals. And it's like a split screen, and it shows them from like, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, up to 90. And it shows what one person's life is like when they live a healthy life throughout the whole thing, and what someone who is unhealthy, who's overweight and who doesn't exercise.

Yeah.

And like, oh my God, like every— it's really well shot, but by 80 The person who doesn't look after life is like, got straws in their nose and they're like, like, like they're out, they're dead. They're gone. They're gone.

They're dead. They died many years ago.

Many years ago, honestly.

And then the other person like, is like, you ever see those real active old men who are like mahogany brown, like eating like some ham on the beach in Italy? Like, you know, they're just like smoking cigarettes, smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey.

And it was, it's just a really good ad and it was a government ad. And I'm like, imagine our government playing stuff like that, they'd be all—

everyone would be like, that's body shaming.

Shut up. Like, so yeah, when I'm the president, you're, you're all getting— everyone's getting forced to go to the gym. Yeah, maybe I'll be the dictator. A gym dictator. Gym dictator. Everyone loves.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because there's a, there's a quality and characteristic that you possess which is quite unique, and I think the Latin word for it is vitalis, and it means the manifestation of life or the beginning of life. And in our modern-day English terms, it's vitality, right?

Of course. Yeah.

I'm interested, where does your source of vitality come from? Because like, you have this larger, like, persona. You're a very high-energy guy. I do believe that people can tap into that. I don't know if you've always been like this, but people can definitely tap into it. But where does your source of vitality come from?

Yeah, so there's a few things. So first of all, I used to not be like this. Yeah, I was like—

it's hard to believe.

Yeah, I was quite hard on myself, and I would always play the class clown and like, uh, I'm nothing, I'm a joke. Like, oh, don't count on me, I, I ain't doing it, you know. Like, or, oh, I'm gonna get wasted, you know. Like, just kind of didn't take myself seriously and like I didn't view myself as a serious person.

Yeah.

And then when I kind of like underwent— I did this like, it was like a transformation in my life at like 21.

Yeah.

Like, and I started YouTube at 22. 21 is like when I kind stopped drinking college-like, like stuff. Yeah, going out like 3 nights a week, getting smashed. I started hitting the gym. Shout out Rogan Portobello, does not exist anymore. That's, that's how long we've been in this game. I started reading, you know, not, not just books like The Secret, a few other things.

What other books you read?

Uh, like whatever's lying around the house, like nothing, nothing off, nothing that I can remember too clearly, but just I started reading more and listening to more podcasts and everything. And I went this— like, I feel my life began at like 22. Yeah, like that's when I actually just feel I figured out like, oh, you can utilize the internet to create a life you want. You can start— the more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities you're going to get. And so that is when I kind of transformed into this, you know, high vitality person. And I, I just like, I was like, oh my God, life is so much better when I'm like this. Yeah, you know, I'm like, life is just— you can just, you can choose to be, be a person.

It's incredible.

You could just literally choose to be, be a person.

I think you found meaning in something.

Yeah.

You, you, so you put yourself out there.

Yeah.

That's like vitality is like you're this larger than life character because you have something that you're working towards. Yeah. You have a purpose as well.

Exactly. And there's something actually, I said it at the time, like maybe when I was like, like an 8-year-old video.

I don't know how we'd find this, but I was like, uh, it was like a vlog and I was like, oh guys, you know, I just can't wait to wake up every day and like check my emails.

I'm like, what's gonna happen today?

Yeah.

And I've still got that exact same mindset.

You're excited about, like, years later.

I'm always just like, what the hell is going to happen today? Like, bring it on. Like, what offer— what is life going to propose to me today? You know? And like, I live in like a very big abundance life, and that's how I view things. I'm like, what opportunities are gonna come my way?

Prosperity. Yeah, having positive expectancy in life will only draw things. Like, like we touched on at the beginning of the podcast. Yeah, it's your fucking mindset. Yeah, like, get that right. If you go from being pessimistic and cynical to being optimistic and just having this, like you said, abundant way of living, of course you're gonna live a better life.

Yeah, there's that.

You're gonna attract it.

Yeah.

And so my answer, like, to the question is like living a life in abundance and always just saying, oh, I can't wait to see the opportunities that's going to happen this week. And so another thing, it kind of goes back a little bit back to dating as well. So you got— everything does, everything, everything goes. You've got, uh, like two mindsets that you have. You can have an abundance mindset or a scarcity mindset.

It.

Yeah.

And this is like, people can smell it off you. People can smell it if you're like living life in scarcity, like you're not a generous person. You're— or even like, not like, it doesn't have to be like physically giving gifts and all. Like, if you're like, if you're slow to pay a compliment or something, you know, you give your energy to someone else, energy to someone else, the most important thing. If you're just living this scared kind of inwards lifestyle, people can see it and, uh, they can detect it from Whereas if you're living this abundant lifestyle, you got so much energy to give. You always pay someone a compliment. Yeah, you always give someone some advice. You always make time for people. You're like a magnet.

And magnetic. Yeah, you're just—

you're gonna attract, attract some good shit or attract some good women as well. Yeah, if you're living a life— if you want to refer to dating. Um, but yeah, abundance and scarcity. You always have to ask yourself, am I living life in abundance or scarcity? And it's like, it really transfers to money as well. Like, I notice if I'm like If this sounds kind of crazy, if I'm afraid to spend and spending less, I make less money.

There's a principle, like you touched on there, scarcity, abundance. There's a principle in the Bible. I think it's Matthew something something, but it says the more that is given, the more that will be given, and the more that's taken away, the more that'll be actually taken from you. And it's like you said there, if you're willing to give more money, you'll get more back. If you're real conservative about what you do in life, of course you're thinking there's there's nothing here for me.

Yeah, exactly.

And you're like, you need to like hoard all your, your shackles.

But yeah, like changing your mindset will, will literally change your life. And you're a great example of that. Like you said, when you start out in your early 20s, you're not the man that you are today. No, but a flip switched and literally like it's just living proof that it can happen.

Yeah.

And it's available to anyone in the world as well, which is fascinating. Um, so Vitality, kind of some— any, anything else in regards to feeling vital and feeling this high energy?

Well, of course, like you know, my routine plays a lot.

Routine is okay.

Yeah, so like my day, a typical day in my life when all is going well is I usually wake up 6 or 7. Yeah. And I'll wake up, I'll go downstairs and like I'll make a cup of coffee or have an energy drink first thing in the morning, crack it open, drink a load of water as well. So like water, caffeine, then I'll have like some nootropics, whatever that is. Ghost do like a good nootropic blend, the Brain Farm. Yeah, exactly. I'll have that I'll get some sunlight in and around my eyes, you know, shout out Hoops. And easy to do in Marbella, not so easy to do here. But either way, I'll just like go outside and breathe air. Like even, even if it's here, it kind of wakes up a little bit. Yeah. Then Marbella, I'll like jump in the ice bath or jump in the pool. I do a little like pump workout while I dry off.

Yeah.

And then I will, I will get like go up to my desk. I usually won't eat like much breakfast much. I'll go up to my desk and I'll do like deep focus work. Until 11 AM. And that was why I actually asked you to move this earlier, because like I'm just at my best when I'm like fasted in the morning and just like—

there's something to be said about being hungry.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, you're so engaged.

I get, I get like lethargic and everything. Everyone does, you know. Yeah. And then so I'll do my deep work until 11 AM, be that recording, uh, you know, for the course that I'm dropping, or doing a podcast, or even like writing an email that I need to essentially negotiate something for or doing client check-ins that I need to like put myself in their body and just, just putting out fires. So I'll do like the main work of my day between like 8 and 12, like 8 and 11 or something. That is like, it's like the Tim Ferriss 4-Hour Workweek. It's Rob Lipsett 3-Hour Morning.

Yeah.

You know, I will do 90% of my work in that super caffeinated, super nootropic. Yeah, super switched on state in the morning. I will do like pretty much everything I need to get done. Then I will go to the gym around midday, try take my time there. That is favorite part of the day. I'll do my workout and then I will actually record all the content after it.

So oftentimes when you're seeing a workout, it's like it's a fake workout. That's why I'm lifting light. I'm like, sometimes if I'm going for a PR, I'll then I'll record.

But if I miss anything or need to get a better angle, I'll just record record it afterwards. If I'm doing a talking— oh yeah, talking gym video, I'll just record it after the workout. So I'll do that, and then I will eat like my main largest meal of the day. I had something really healthy, lots of lean meats, proteins, uh, vegetables, a little bit of carbs. Then I'll try to get out in nature a little bit, so walk or beach. You know, the summer I go, I go beach like virtually every, every single day. Go down with Linda, and then I'll do like my second 3 to 4 hour work block of the day, which is like what, you know, 3 PM to 6 PM.

Nice.

And then I'll just shut off and try wind down, and that's like, that's the best day ever.

That is literally the vitality.

Yeah, I'm like, sun, healthy food, lifting weights, cold exposure, and for cold exposure and fulfilling work. That is probably the main one to fulfill.

And having someone you love by your side, and you're probably meeting people you're actually interested in as well. Like, why exactly? Like, there's vitality of the body and the energy, but the vitality of the mind in regards to meeting new people and wanting to be around, have an interesting conversation.

Yeah, I'm like, how dare I be in a bad mood? Yeah, how, how? Like, I can— and I feel like— so I know I've been doing this like 10 years, but for me, in my head, it just feels 2 years or 3 years. I just, I just don't believe it's been 10 years. Yeah, yeah, being just so fast and crazy. So I compare like myself just 2 years ago in my head to working in like the office job in Dublin in the rain and like had like, it's like €300 in my bank account, and so I was saving up to buy a Canon G7X. So like, I feel that was so recent that I'm just like, what the hell is this, you know?

Yeah, vitality is something else because I'm just fascinated because I do believe anyone can tap into it. And you think of great examples of vitality as well. I often think like, you think of Joe Rogan at 50.

Oh, that is like crazy. Like, that is— he— that is actually— so people always ask me as well, they're like, 'When you gonna give up the YouTube thing?' I'm like, 'Maybe when I'm 60.' Like, when Joe— when I probably won't— whenever Joe Rogan gives up, then there you go.

He's like, he's decades, decades older than me, but he's invested so much time into his body, into martial arts, into all his kettlebell workouts, eating elk or whatever he's eating, you know, all this good nutritious food. But he also has this passion for intellectual conversation, which is such a great mind stimulant. Like, and I think that's like if someone wants to become more vitalized, first on work on your health and then find something you're genuinely interested in, go after that.

Yeah, that's, that's— it's honestly like Donald Trump as well. Like, he's—

oh, that's another example.

He's like 80 and he eats McDonald's every, every single day. He— that's the original biohacker, is, is find something that you just love to do, find a mission, and just nothing else matters. Like, if you, you will just— you'll have that vitality and you'll be going until What is he, like, what, he's in his 80s? Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely nuts. I think he's like so funny. I think it's like he does like stand-up, like his talks are like stand-up.

Well, he's like, it's like he's in there, funny, the WWE.

Yeah, he was like an actor and everything, you know.

He's so funny and I forget the fact he's 80 and like he doesn't mumble or stumble or anything.

Great speaker.

Yeah, great speaker. It's, that's so the, the, the secret hack to vitality is just find your mission.

Find your mission in life. Yeah, that's fucking, that's great advice. You just mentioned the speakers there. I'm fascinated with the art of speaking. Something I'm trying to get better on a continuous basis. But I think it's called oration, or to be a good orator.

Orator.

Orator. Yeah. Is it something you've practiced? Because you speak very, very, very well.

Thank you. I still, when I get too excited about something, I'll be like, I'll say the word twice. Exactly. Yeah. And I'll say the word twice and everything just there. But what's got me better is just learning to speak on camera. And that's why YouTube has been the most, like, helpful health improvement thing that I've ever done. It's taught me to be more confident.

Yeah.

Told me to build a career.

Yeah.

Told me to show up daily. It's taught me to be consistent. Taught me how to edit, how to speak more clearly, how to speak more confidently to a room. So I've never taken any, like, formal speaking classes or anything. I would actually really like to. I know Chris Williams has. Yeah, I know.

And you can tell.

Yeah, you can tell he's like, he's like an audiobook listening to his podcast.

It's frightening how articulate he is.

It's crazy. So it's something I would like to do, but I've just really just put in the reps to become—

You've got a lot going on.

Yeah. And you know what some people are saying now? They're like, I'm losing my Irish accent and having a more neutral accent.

Do you think you are?

No, I think when you look back at my first ever videos, I still sound the exact same, maybe a little bit more neutral because like I haven't lived in Ireland in like like 5 years or something, and not permanently. And I have a lot of American friends, and so maybe, yeah, and you do have to kind of put on a bit of a presenter voice sometimes for YouTube, like, what's up guys and welcome to the vlog. Gotta play the game, gotta play the game. Exactly. But, uh, no, I still— when I ask my American friends that, they're like, no, no, you do not say American.

The Irish accent is a great accent.

Yeah, me too, I like it. Yes, it's rare.

It's very pleasant, very pleasant.

What, uh, what, uh, Speaking classes, are you going to do?

Um, I haven't looked into it just yet, but what I do do at the moment, what I do do is reading books out loud. So I'm trying to pronounce words better, trying to get just more, more articulate and just clear in how I come across, because I think it's very important. Like, if you think of— this is a good point— you think you mentioned Donald Trump, what is he? He's a great speaker. Like, and if you were able to speak well, you can evoke emotion in people and change public opinion.

Yeah.

So if you're able to do that, it's like the world is yours. You think of a great speaker of our time who's blown up is Andrew Tate. Yeah, oh, talk about unbelievable speaker. So if you can get really good at speaking, I feel like the power is within your hands. Yeah, people see you as a leader because a lot of people are afraid to be outspoken in life. They're afraid to, you know, express what's on their mind. So if you can do that and do it in a way where people understand, the world is literally your oyster.

Yeah, I met Jordan Belfort in Dublin like many, many years ago, like on an— he was doing a talk and I got free tickets to talk, and I met him afterwards. I was like, you know, what's your biggest piece of advice and all this? And he was like, it's how— it's not exactly what you say, it's how you say it. How you say it, how you make people feel. Like, he's like, oh, you know, he's— it's like he's like an actor, you know, when he's doing his talks. He's not really saying anything like breakthrough, nor am I, but if you just say it with such conviction, high energy, you'll, you'll capture—

because there's emotion attached to it. When you can infuse your words with emotion, people are like on edge. They're like, they want to know what the next word is going to come out of his mouth. Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah, it doesn't matter what—

that was the one thing he said. Yeah, I was like, yes, the story, story plays out. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely— he was telling the truth. There you go.

Doesn't matter what you say, it's how you say it. How you say it. Um, tell me, just to segue into the next part of the conversation, um, to become the man you're destined to be, I believe there's 3 fundamental parts. So you've definitely mastered all 3. But I'd love to get your own opinion on them. It's values, vision, and purpose, right? So values are our behavior, what we give our time to, our actions in life. Our vision is what we, you know, project into what we want to happen in the future. Like, we touch on manifestation, but if you've got a vision for your life, you're like, I'm working towards something, it's goal-oriented. And also, a famous quote in the Bible that I absolutely love is by King Solomon, the richest man in the Bible. He said, without a vision, the people perish. So if you don't have a vision, this grand vision of how you want your life to look— I'm guessing for you, one once upon a time was Marbella, it was the family, it was the business, it was growing your YouTube to a million followers— subscribers, should I say. It's like you need to have that front and center. And then the last one, purpose. Every man, we kind of touch on with the vitality aspect, is like we need to have a mission in life. What are we here for? Life inherently has no meaning, but we give it meaning. So first place, let's start with values.

I'm pumped up now.

I'm evoking a bit of emotion here, Rob. Yeah, but your values, what do they look like? Um, for you, obviously, you know, it's fitness related, but maybe we could go a bit deeper. What is it that you value in life? I know it's a big question.

No, no, no, I, I know the answer to, uh, answer to it, and it's like, it does not even values, there's only like one value, you know? And for me, that is just freedom. It is, yeah, it's just freedom. And, and I know, like, what, what, Rob, are you locked up, or like, you know, are you like, you're not in some like, you know, Civil War, we need freedom, you know? What it is is just I really value being able to do what I want to some extent every day when I wake up, like having a somewhat flexible schedule, being able to travel, not being tied to one location because I've had that freedom. But it changed a lot with a baby now. Not really. We actually have lots of friends. They travel loads with kids because it still just comes back to your job, really, about being able to work online and tap into that Wi-Fi money to do whatever you want. Um, so that, that's, that's the main thing. I think once I have a good level of flexibility and freedom in my life, I'm gonna be happy.

Love it. I love it. And that's what the, you know, the masculine energy always seeks is ultimately freedom. That's why a lot of men watch sports, because like there's two opponents trying to kill their team, but they're always searching for that element of freedom. And I think that's okay. Any other values though? Any— like, I know obviously health and fitness is very obvious one, but any other values that you have in your own The health and fitness is—

I, I have to say it. Yeah, like, I have to say it.

Freedom number— say if we get top 5 of Rob's values.

Oh, there's no— there's definitely not 5. Okay, there's like 2 at most.

Okay. Once I, once I look after, uh, freedom and my health and fitness, everything else falls into place. And so, like, health and fitness is, is actually, like, the priority of my day. Yeah, like, everything— work comes after that. Like, everything goes around that. Like, I've actually had, like, massive meetings and massive calls or whatever, and I'm like, I can't make it, I'm going to the gym. They're like, what? Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Or I will literally physically go to the meeting in a stringer vest. Like, I'll sit down, like, like someone wanted to give me like shares in like a company, I can't name, it's like an Irish company, and I will literally rock up in like an Alphalete stringer and like, like short shorts, and I'm just like— and you know what, actually, they— everyone, every time I've done that, I've actually done that quite a lot of times, I just wear like gym wear, track the whole day. I'll show up a Zoom call and wearing like a stringer. Everyone always like laughs, and I'm always like, oh yeah, you know, that you get, you get what you, you get what you, you get.

This is me.

And everyone always really respects it. And so like, I'm like, look at all these suits that got to wear, like freaking— they don't want to wear the suits, wear a bow tie all day and all shit. I'm like, I don't have to wear that. Literally wearing a stringer vest. Uh, so that actually kind of ties in with freedom and flexibility as well. No don't tell me what to wear on a day-to-day basis.

It's a very masculine trait, you know, because no man on this planet ever wants to be told what to do. Yeah, yeah, we feel belittled when that is the case. And I'm sure you experienced that with your first job where you're probably told this is your lunch break, this is what time you've got to be back, this and that. You're like, fuck off.

Yeah, I've definitely got a little bit of ego there as well.

Like, I think it's important. Yeah, it's important. Yeah, people admire a small bit of arrogance.

Yeah, of course. That's actually how you— that's actually how you get far in life.

You've got to think you're the shit.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, you really do.

If you don't, just no one's I think we're tangential here, but I actually like this. You've had a great tweet before, and I actually read it in the book Reality Transurfing as well. But dude, the whole world's an amazing book. Great book, great book. And the whole world's a mirror, so whatever you project out there, it'll just be reflected back to you. When did you start to realize, you know, if I walk with this kind of confident bravado, expressiveness, even in your videos and the posts you put up, that you started to realize, okay, the world actually responds? Where the people are thinking, I am the fucker.

You—

but you've got to know it first inside you before projecting out there.

Yeah, so when I say that, when I was like 24, 25, and so like again, life started for me at 22. Yeah. And then like it took me 3 years to like, you know, quit my job for YouTube to like provide a good enough income. And then I started like traveling around and kind of like, you know, live— all my dreams are starting to come true.

Yeah.

And then so you can't walk with a swagger if you've got nothing to swagger about. So I need to get a little bit a little bit of social proof or a little bit of proof under my belt. But yeah, around like 25 and stuff, I just had a good bit of freedom in my life. That's very early on as well. Like, when I look at 25-year-olds now, I'm like— or even if I look at a picture of myself when I was 25, I'm like, it's a kid. Yeah, it looks like a baby.

Yeah, I've aged like 20 years in the last 10. But, but, you know, I, I was so young at the time.

But yeah, that's when I started to, uh, you know, be proud of where I'm at.

Proud of yourself. Yeah, because people admire I often think he's a great example of this, but fucking Conor McGregor, man. Yeah, on his come up. Yeah, he thought he's the fucking dog's bollocks.

Oh man, I still like see so much like videos and quotes of him from like 2016, 2017. Best Conor. Unbelievable. It was just like, it was like Bruce Lee.

Yeah, it was like watching Bruce Lee. And that's a great point, like there was, there's a bit of philosophy behind what he's talking about.

Oh, completely.

There's one thing I remember, I think after he bet Aldo, he said if you've got if you got the courage enough to speak it, if you got the vision and you got the courage enough to speak it, it will happen. And it's just about having that internal belief, or internal, almost belief is like, it's a bit shallow, but having a knowingness that you are the person that you say you are.

I got a lot of my visualization stuff from him. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, 'cause he would, actually, it's so funny. I remember we were on, he was just getting into UFC at the time, and I was just blowing up on YouTube at the time, and we spoke about this in Mallorca when we ran into each other and we were like, oh, we came from that same era in Dublin when similar age. Yeah, well, I think he's a few years older than me, but yes, not far off similar. And yeah, we were just talking about that and it was funny.

Crazy time. Yeah, crazy time. So we went down the values rabbit hole there and got sidetracked by that.

That's good.

The whole mirror effect.

Podcast is for getting sidetracked.

It is.

It is.

It is. Side tangents. Vision be the next one. Because like I said there, we're nothing without— you see, our imagination is so powerful, you know, creating a world inside our heads that then becomes a reality is how it happens. But humans are quite visual creatures, like we like to see— like if you close your eyes now, you can imagine this world just existing inside your head. But for you, was there always a strong pull towards a vision that you had of the future version of Rob when you're around kind of 24, 25, when you're on that come up?

Yeah, yeah.

And what did that look like?

It looks exactly like it is, has played out, if not more. I didn't even like pictures the Marbella villa or anything, you know.

Was Marbella always in your mind?

Oh no, I actually just moved there because of, uh, COVID and lockdowns and everything. And I was like— I was actually living in London at the time, this is 2020, and then all the lockdowns and everything happened and the gyms were closed. I was like, okay, no, the gym is my reason for everything. No, I'm like, I honestly, I'm like in anchors my whole day. I'm like, I can't work, I can't train, I'm going insane. Yeah, we can't go back to Ireland because that's like turbo lockdown. Turbo London's lockdown. I'm like, Linda, where in Europe is like— do I know, like, have I visited before, I know people there, and that's like pretty much open? So called up a few friends in Marbella. I'm like, what's life like there? And they're like, oh, it's no— nothing, like everything's fine. Uh, all— because all the gyms are outdoors. I remember the outdoor eating and the outdoor training. Load off. Just the biggest scam in human history, actually, in human modern-day history. Anyways, Marbella was open, so we went there for like one month, Airbnb, and we're like, whoa, this is like amazing when you're not partying and getting off your head. This is like, it's like a health and fitness hub.

It is.

And then so that, that's when that kind of transpired.

I feel like you've brought a whole nation over there.

I know, I know, I literally have.

Like, I know that sounds cocky to say, but literally people come and say, I've moved here for me. My friend Marianne from Netherlands bought a house next to mine because of me. Another friend of mine, Adam Power, he just bought a place there. There just like last week. I have a— he hasn't announced it, so maybe I've ruined—

they'll come out later.

His big surprise. Uh, another guy, HowToBeast, he's another YouTuber, he bought a villa there as well because of me. I'm like, where is my commission on all these?

Not here to take part.

Yeah, he's gonna take over.

No, yeah, I am. I, I not only like— I love Marbella, I'm like quite patriotic to it at this stage. Um, I like showcasing it well, and I like when people go and they have a good time, they see all like the beautiful nature and the amazing restaurants and stuff, and they don't just like go Portobello, get pissed, and back to the flight.

There's more too. Yeah, a beautiful Golden Mile as well.

Yeah, oh, it's amazing. That's where the Run Club is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then the last piece of the puzzle to become the man that you're destined to be, uh, like you're doing, is purpose. And probably the, the most important thing in a man's life is his purpose, even before— so I got this from the book The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida, and he says there's a really key chapter in it, but like your purpose comes before anything else in your life. So it's like your mission in life, you know, your family and your relationship. Because if you're solely dependent on a woman for it to give you purpose in life, she'll see that as like neediness.

That's simpy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. It's, it's, it's a simp mentality. But for, for a man, his purpose has to be almost larger than himself. The question I have for you, Rob, is like, what is your purpose now, and has that purpose evolved over time as well?

Um, it's always been the same, always one North Star, and it's to positively impact as many people in the world via health and fitness. Because that's, that's what I'm an expert in. Yeah, that's what I know. You know, y'all delve into business and mindset and everything, but at the end of the day, like, fitness and health, training, nutrition is what I can answer every question on. And so that's my, like, expertise. And, and I also believe, I, I really, really, really do believe that if everyone got, like, as fit and healthy as they could, 90% of the problems would disappear, guaranteed. I'm, I'm really there. Will not listen to anything because you have so much more. That's factually true.

It is true.

It's just factually true.

But the thing is, like, you've got—

you don't want to admit that though because it's very hard to, you know, to get on top of your fitness and health. It's not hard, it's just—

it's your time.

Yeah, it's just— it's like, it takes a lot of discipline. See, it's easy for us to say it's easy, but then why is 80% of the population overweight, you know? So, so, but that, that is my, my core mission. Once I do that that, create, keep creating content around that, and, uh, you know, in person and online. Yeah, everything in my life falls into place.

Just being a positive influencer. Yeah, and a good role model. But, um, just switching your point there because you said like 80— is it, is it actually something that's fucking ridiculous? That's crazy.

America for sure.

Oh, it's bad there.

Yeah, I'm like, can we— I'm actually pretty confident it is like 80%.

Do you think that's like not obese, not overweight?

Yeah, and something like maybe 40 or 50 is obese.

Okay, but still, the number—

no matter what, the number's high, absolutely staggering. And even like, if you just walk down the street, you will see the majority of people are like not lean.

Yeah.

And do you find that's because people lack education around what they're eating and health and fitness advice?

That I actually think is just the environment in terms of like every— especially in America, you will walk down the street, like every shop is a fast food shop. Okay, you'll have like a Domino's, a McDonald's, a KFC. Yeah, like a literally terrorist to each other. Like, it's just food is— the portion sizes have gotten too big. Like, food is just— so it's an environmental thing. It's like everywhere. Like, it's in every advertisement. Like, it should be like, you know, like smoking is, is like advertising that in football jerseys and all is banned and stuff. It should be like that. Yeah, yeah. And like, look, there's no one thing, there's no one food causing all the issues. It's just sheer amount of calories that, that we're consuming. Uh, but it's just the environment that we live in. Like, we're just not, uh, working like manual labor jobs anymore, and we're not even— we're not using our body, we're not using our body. So every— everyone's sedentary, so no one walks enough. Everyone's just like sat at their desks. They'll get in the car— like, picture this, right? This is most people. They'll like wake up in the morning, smash like some Froot Loops with no protein in it, or they'll eat like a jam croissant.

It's like in their sugar.

Yeah, exactly. And then they'll have like cup of tea with a teaspoon of sugar in it, and then they'll go off to work. And by that I mean sit in their car for 40 minutes, then they will sit at their desk for 8 hours. Uh, they will have like just— they'll get a something that they think is healthy on their lunch, like, you know, a wrap that has like 1,500 calories in it, and they're like, oh, it's a wrap. Uh, they'll have that, you know, they'll keep drinking some fruit juice, some more calories, like calories, calories, calories straight the day. They'll eat some biscuits in the office. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's crazy. And then not only that, they'll be sitting all day and then they will sit in their car again. Sit, sit, sit. And then they'll drive home and then they will sit, you guessed it, on their couch.

What a pathetic existence.

Yeah, well, look, this is—

No, no, genuinely, though.

Most people, this is most people. And then you will—

they'll eat some dinner in front of their TV that is like just slop.

Take some ownership in life.

I know, but it's easy.

I know you're giving—

It's easy for us to say, but most people—

But it's not though, because you put years of effort in. Yeah, you didn't get into shape from going to the gym for a year. It's like time after time after time again. It's consistent action repeated, and then you just build that positive momentum. And I think what you— when you work out, right, a lot of, a lot of people see like working out as painful. For you, I'm guessing you now see it as like a pleasurable activity. Oh yeah, during the session you're pushing yourself, but it feels good.

Yeah, yeah.

And your fucking testosterone's through the roof, your hormones are in check. It's like, this is what it feels like to be a man. Yeah, we're here to conquer the world. World, but most importantly, we're here to conquer our own world first. And how we do that is through the physical vessel.

Yeah, one thing as well is, is everything's enjoyable once you get past the awkward phase. So this last year, I got like really into running. Uh, I know. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Yeah, I've never expected that.

1:40. I was—

that was good time as well.

Yeah, I was like, Bill Diff. But, uh, like, I— when I first started running, I didn't like it. Like, I— because you're on— find it awkward. I—

were you on food?

Uh, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I could bear— I was like like really dead after 5K. Like, I would really—

so much muscle mass.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, I just found it really difficult. And now I'm like, 5K is like just like going for a walk. But so you just got— and same goes for lifting weights or any form of exercise. The start's the hardest, and it's going to feel awkward. Like, you'll feel like you can't— you can almost can't feel your, your body contracting, and it just feels like new. And then after like 1 month, 2 months, it just becomes a thing, and we like what we're good at as well. So when we get better at it, then we enjoy more.

Yeah, yeah.

Obviously just on the, the half marathon, is there anything else on the horizon?

Yeah, so I did a High Rocks, uh, I did a half marathon.

I'm truly like, I've had the most productive year ever with Linda being pregnant.

Yeah, like, because I've drank like 4 times.

No way.

And each time was like just, you know, having a few, yeah, a few drinks. Like, I can wake up the next day and just feel normal. Yeah. So I haven't been like drunk or hungover in like a year, pretty much.

Brilliant.

So yeah, that's nice. So I've had like— training has been amazing, fittest I've ever been, literally, like without question. And yeah, it's been a great year for productivity. So it's like, if you need a productivity hack, just knock up your wife, you know, just that's it. You—

because you will be like—

we would always go out together, or we go on date nights, or we have like a few cocktails. Oh man, I've actually missed them.

I miss them.

Uh, I love the egg white bit in there.

Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Out in. Yeah. And so we would obviously travel loads, and then, you know, we'd have drinks when we travel, and we'd be eating out loads. But this year has just been like, stay at home, save, grow the baby. And so super like routine. Yeah, we have done like no travel. I did a few like work trips to, um, Dubai and Texas and stuff. Uh, where was I just? I was in LA there recently. Yeah. And, um, yeah, I've only done like 3 or 4 trips myself, which usually I'd go somewhere every month. But yeah, it's been a super dialed-in year.

Um, so yeah. And you put that down to— obviously you mentioned the wife getting pregnant, but also not drinking.

Yeah, that, that's like— we should actually probably talk about that because like that's, that's the number one thing. It's the number one thing you do. Like there's like nothing—

the clarity of mind is incredible. I actually personally, last July I said one year no drinking. I'm 10 months into it now. Yeah. And things have just changed completely.

Yeah.

I have no— you're not feeling hungover on the weekend, you can work out, you can be way more productive of, and you're never depressed or anxious about anything. Yeah, life is just so much better. And then the same thing, you can still go out and socialize and have fun. Like, no one knows if you're not drinking either.

Yeah, that's the thing.

And like, what I can't stand as well— I, I think you don't drink beer, do you? I know, I'm anti-beer as well.

I'm anti-beer unless like it's a Corona on the beach in a sunset, but I would still choose like a liquor drink over that. Like tequila soda lime is is like brilliant.

Like, that's marketed as a manly—

oh yeah, and it's like ruining your testosterone.

Like, it's full of phytoestrogens. Yeah, which is just spiking the estrogen in your body that makes you more feminine and effeminate. It makes no sense at all.

Yeah, and it's just like slugging pints on the weekend. So it's like guys will have like 8 pints or something. That's like a day of eating. There's like 3,000 calories, more than a day of eating. It's like 3,000 calories. It's like like, oh my God, whenever I want to just fast-track results, just, just cut it out. Because not only that, it like just completely fucks your sleep, like just zero sleep score. Yeah, it ruins your sleep. Therefore, are you going to set a PR the next day? No, obviously not. Are you— your inhibitions are lowered, so you're gonna just make poor food choices. Are you gonna go on a massive hike, a big walk? No, no, you're gonna lie on the couch. So it's not just drinking that it affects, firstly training, nutrition, sleep, the big tree. So like you're just placing yourself— it's like an uphill battle. Yeah, it's like impossible to get in like your best shape ever if you're drinking regularly. You can, you can— what I would say, I can't make progress when I'm drinking. I can maintain it, but that's because I'm very— I will go out drinking, the next day I'll just like back to routine. Most people can't do that. But, and I still can't make progress doing that. I can only maintain progress through drinking. Or wait, yeah, with drinking every like maybe like 2 every second week at most.

Do you find your behavior around alcohol is going to remain like stay the same now, or do you believe you'll go back to maybe—

uh, me and Linda were both saying we'll, we'll really not go back to it.

Like, yeah, there's a big movement towards that now.

Huge, huge. And also like, it's kind of naturally you get less into getting fucked up the older you get. Like, I'm 33 now. Like, when I compare, like, well, actually, so what I actually didn't drink for like 3 years when I was, you know, became 22 and I was like YouTube mode. Yeah, I like had no money, so I had to like like just put everything towards YouTube. Drinking's so expensive. Oh my God, so it's— we didn't even talk about—

not even, not even the financial aspect, money, energy, and etc.

You're not working the next day. No, in Marbella, like, 2 cocktails is €50, you know, in a fancy place in Puerto Romano. But anyways, 22, 23, 24, I had like none to celebrate, so I wasn't drinking. And so that was like when I fast-tracked so much progress. And if I didn't like stay in essentially for those 3 years that would not have laid the foundation. Yeah, like, so there's that. And then like when I started, you know, getting a bit more freedom, you know. Yeah, then exactly, I was single and I was like, yeah, a few more drinks. But now at this stage of my life, I'm— it's becoming less and less.

And especially the more responsibility you have with having a kid.

Yeah. Oh man, hungover with a baby. Oh my God, I don't know if I could do it.

It shows a lack of responsibility to your child as well, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, that's not a responsible parent.

You just drop the thing, you know, like you drop your phone on a night out loads of times, you drop your baby.

So I'm like, yeah, I don't know if I'll definitely just be drinking a lot less going forward.

Well, I think it's a common occurrence because like a lot of men nowadays just— it's so— drinking is so ingrained in Irish culture.

Yeah, it really is. Like for anyone listening that maybe from America or the UK, like the Irish drinking stereotype, we're not—

I think it's such a shameful thing. Like we're known for being such joyous and happy people and everything. Yeah, but it's always associated with having a few drinks. It's like, could we not just be that way without the drink?

Yeah. Now, now, like with that said, I do think think drinking enhances a lot of situations. Like, I'm not—

oh, everything's more enjoyable.

Not this like priest, holier-than-thou person. Like, you know, I, I do love a drink. Yeah. But I just think when you do it regularly, it takes away the fun. Fun, like you don't even appreciate it.

Yeah, it does. And it kills— it kills a bit of your quality of life as well. It definitely does. Yeah.

Um, I think the happy medium is like, for a realistic one, bare minimum, like reduce it to every second weekend. Yeah. Better, best would be once month, special occasions, you know. Just pointless drinking. And Irish people do this, they'll just go down to like the same pub like every week, and it's like you're not missing anything.

Like, you're just—

yeah, but same people, you're just like maintaining your life.

Same people, same conversations.

Exactly, exactly.

There really is nothing to it. Um, yeah, that's it. It's a big voice, isn't it? A lot of people have that.

And also leads to like other things— lose your phone, fights, like, yeah, like, you know, no one ever like like, does—

goes out and starts fights sober. Yeah, just walks out the street.

It honestly, like, drink is kind of the beginning of everything, like, every downfall, arguments and everything.

Yeah, everything.

Yeah, yeah.

Guys deal with a lot of vices nowadays, especially the modern man. Like, porn is such a big one as well.

That is. And now with like AI and OnlyFans and everything, it's like crazy.

Why do you think men suffer with like giving into their urges so easily? Obviously you're a guy that's very disciplined, so you've got that degree of control, and it's so evident in just the man that you are. But the average guy just can't seem to get himself away from the porn, the beer, the gambling. Like, these are so common across like Irish societies, you know, the UK, Australia, America, wherever it might be. Why do you think men struggle with just giving in so easy to temptation?

It's just cheap dopamine that they know— that they know they can get. And instead of seeking hard dopamine like lifting weights, setting a PR in the gym, like, that's like like, that's euphoric. Yeah, for me, uh, you know, ice baths, cold plunges, that's what you're— that gets your adrenaline going. Uh, and like, even another one as well, like when you open your Shopify and you see like just a massive payment, that's a good— that's a good dopamine spike. You want to come in or make money, you start making money, you sign a really good client, instead of spending and gambling your money, you're like, oh, I got a big win. It's like, yeah, but you're down thousands, and it's such a distraction. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so you can get your same dopamine spike, you know.

You also, you could go have sex with a woman as well. Yeah, you know, get in a relationship. Yeah, get in a relationship, you have all the sex you want.

It's the biggest cop-out ever. Yeah, for guys going after porn.

Yeah, and it stops you from going out. Like, you, you can keep— it kills the drive. It can actually be like you're about to go on a night out and you go watch the porn, you're like, I'm not, I'm not bothered. Like, what's the point?

Like, I've got no juice left.

Well, that's what happens. There's a great axis I've seen before, like before a man ejaculates, his dopamine is up here, prolactin's down here, and as soon as I have post-nut clarity— yeah, you're just like a sleeping baby as well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

There's nothing—

but yeah, so it's just all the things that you mentioned there are just cheap dopamine hits. And just go after the— get the same dopamine hits, you can get the exact same ones. Yeah, but they just take a little bit more.

I love the way you've, um, you know, categorized it there.

It's like the gambling is Replace gambling with business, uh, replace porn with, uh, your girlfriend. Go get a girlfriend. And then replace drinking with, uh, in the gym. In the gym.

There you go. Yeah, that's it. That's what the dopamine should be. The dopamine menu.

That's, that's like my dopamine every single day.

And look, like, look, that is actually— I get, I get them every single day, those three things.

This is a great advertisement for someone to change their ways because they can see how much energy you have, your, your positive mindset, your abundant outlook on life, the business being thriving, the body that you have, the relationship you have, the baby on the way. Like, you're living life to the fullest, you know. That's what we should be chasing after. You're a good example. You're leading by example. But like, men need to just take a long, hard look at themselves. If you're in that phase of your life where you're doing things that are taking away your life and not adding to it, change your behavior. Change your behavior is so important.

Um, and just, just do one thing at a time.

Yeah.

Oftentimes when people try to like completely overhaul their life, then this is very evident in fitness as well. Yeah, it's all well and good to be hardcore and say like, all right, today we're gonna hit like 200 grams protein, we're gonna track our macros to the gram, yeah, we're gonna lift weights 6 days a week, we're gonna walk 12,000 steps per day, we're gonna sleep 8 hours per night straight away. And most people are like, ah, too much. Just, just do one thing per week and you build all these small things. Small wins will, will build over to massive huge wins over time.

Yeah, well, overall your life, guaranteed, guaranteed. I love that. Um, yeah, the, the next topic I have down here is the body and building character, because I think we can tell a lot by someone's physique, of course, and what they go through. Because there's a famous quote I love from Seneca. Do you like stoicism?

Yeah, of course. Yeah, right. Ryan Holiday sent me— sends me all his books.

Oh brilliant.

He signs and sends friends. Yeah, but no, I just DM'd me. I was like, can I— you seem like a sick guy who deserves my You're very stoic-like.

Yeah, you possess— yeah, you demonstrate the virtues. But anyway, he has this famous quote that I love, and he says, treat the body rigorously so it's not disobedient to the mind. And it's like, we have to, like, you know, put our body under stress, make it more resilient, make it more endurable— or durable, should I say— and just show a level of care that we have for ourselves. But anyway, the point I'm trying to get to is, like, your body can tell a lot about your character. So if I look at someone that's in shape, they're obviously disciplined, they can delay gratification they're resilient, they're trustworthy, they're dependable because they're going to show up. Like, what other characteristics do you believe that the body portrays to someone that is observing you or looking at you? Is there anything else?

So look, in terms of stoicism, the, the main takeaway that I've got from that— and this applies to actually YouTube and business— so this is what I've learned from stoicism, right? Uh, do not celebrate the highs and don't get stuck on the lows.

Oh yeah.

Okay, so when you go into your YouTube analytics or your Shopify Analytics, your business analytics, you'll see charts going like this, right? So this is like high views and high payments, and then you'll oftentimes the next month it can go— it can keep going up. That's great.

Yeah, yeah.

Nothing ever goes up like this, ever. Not even like a stock like Bitcoin or the S&P 500, which historically always goes up. It has its huge dip. And this also, like, if you're a good trader— I don't know if you do any like trade investing or stocks or whatever where like if you just freak out and sell the moment things dips, you're gonna like lose all your profit. And if you freak out on YouTube the moment you have a month with like low views or low subscribers, you're gonna quit. Yeah. Uh, or if you have a bad month in business or whatever. So the best thing, whereas the best like way I can apply stoicism is just when you see these, these, these waves, these troughs, to just like be like, meh, whatever, you know, be like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna keep doing the thing, you know. So that's the best thing. But it's actually more important to not get caught up in the highs than to get caught up in the lows.

And how do you control that when you're actually in it?

Stoicism.

Just, just, you just gotta shrug it off. You're just gonna go, all right, back to it, back to it.

Yeah, there's a great degree of calmness that stoicism, when you begin to understand the teachings of it, is like just maintaining self-control. Like, no one can make you feel a certain way, you decide to feel that way. Like, I love the fact of like— and Max Radius touched on this— but like, no one can bring anger out of you, you decide to get angry. And I think it's such a weakness as a man if someone can bring out of you a side where they've got control over you. Like, we should always remain stoic-like and like, like you said, that kind of calm, peaceful, living life in moderation, not getting caught up with the highs but not getting down when the lows come along.

Yeah, actually, like, one of the signs of a high testosterone man is actually calmness. People think it's the opposite, like, but it's actually like the little like nitpicky guys. Oh no, you freak out all the small things. But if you've got like a, you know, high testosterone, you're actually quite a calm person. Yeah. And you handle bad situations.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah, testosterone, because it is the hormone that makes everyone feel good.

Yeah.

And literally when you've got high T, that the world gets better and better because you've got more confidence, you're more assertive, you're more likely to take risks, etc., etc. We're obviously living in a world nowadays where men's testosterone levels are through floor. What is it you do in particular to, to help maintain and have— have you got them checked in the last while?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I actually have got my bloods done 2 months ago or something.

Would it be high?

Yeah, yeah, they're always high. Yeah, yeah.

What is it you do to, to help maintain?

So the, the— this is Peter Attia.

Yeah, Peter.

Yeah, so he, uh, he has a really good like take on why not only testosterone levels are crashing in today's day and age, uh, but also fertility levels are already going down. And it's actually just just because, uh, we're fatter now.

Oh, that's it?

Because weight. Yeah, he, he did like a meta-analysis on like everything, and he said the main cause is just like we're over— we're all overweight.

That's incredible.

Yeah, and our— because fat causes estrogen in the body, and that's it. And so it's like the, the hack is get lean. Obviously not like extremely lean, or you— or else it goes the opposite way as well. Just get like, you know, 10, 12, 14% body fat.

Yeah.

Uh, work out regularly, plenty of sunlight, nutrient-dense food. But see, all, all this comes with just being lean. Like, you can't get lean without eating healthy.

Yeah, of course.

Or, and, you know, or working out. So really what he said, and it was like, we're all like trying to figure out what it is. And there's definitely similar things like, you know, the environment, microplastics, and all this and that, and like the chemicals we're using. And that, all that is like minuscule compared to just not being, not being overweight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

It's like, that's is 90%.

Any supplements you take personally?

I, I don't actually think there's like— I got the Hooper and Stack, Tongkat Ali, and Fadogia Agrestis. All these things will like, on paper, they will increase your testosterone for like a few hours, but like it won't actually bring the total baseline up.

Yeah.

So the main things that you can do are vitamin D, actually. Vitamin D is actually an amazing one. Yeah, that is a great one.

Will you take that now that you're back home? Yeah.

Oh yeah, I'll take it in Spain, like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, of course, it's like a no-brainer. So a certain brand or, um, just a good quality one like, um, Solgar's one as well, but just, just a reputable brand. But yeah, I'll take it, it's so cheap, you know, it's like a no-brainer, I'll just throw it in, you know. But the stuff like the other things, I'm not too sure. So the main things are vitamin D, of course, sunlight, lifting weight, being lean, um, and that, and sleep. Okay, sleep is the biggest one. I actually— so I've, I've like done a blood test after I had a night of like terrible sleep. I actually was like, I got my blood thing tomorrow, I need to have like a really good sleep. And of course I just had a shit sleep. You know, always happens, it always happens. You put pressure on yourself. And my testosterone was so low because of the sleep. Then I got it tested like, you know, a week later or something again after an amazing sleep.

—it spikes up.

So sleep is the biggest one you can do. Sleep is honestly the foundation of virtually everything. It's actually shocking. And it's funny because it's quite like a boring topic. It's like, oh, just going to sleep. There's not much— it's not as— you can't do a workout of you sleeping.

See, sleep is the ultimate form of surrender.

Yeah, just like this. And you can't get a videographer and be like, yo, let's film my sleep tonight. It's going to be badass. But it's so basic. Sick, but it's the most important thing.

Oh, definitely is. Yeah, sleep, sunlight, movement, lifting weights, eating right, red meat, etc., etc. Get lean. Yeah, tell me, um, lose the bitch tits. Yeah, lose the bitch tits. Yeah, which is where the Easterns—

that's what comes from drinking beer.

I know. Yeah, yeah, man.

Um, tell me, a topic I'd love to touch, uh, on is masculinity, because we're living in a world now where— I don't know if you've seen that before, but it's like Good Times, Cray, weak men.

I know the exact image.

Well, we're literally in that phase right now, and the average man is like not pulling his weight. And Chris Williamson often touches on this, like he's a great advocate for men. Like, men are falling behind in college, they don't earn as much as women, which is a huge issue because a woman's not going to look at a man that may potentially earn less money than him or not be as driven or successful or ambitious or have good social status. She's like, she needs to look up to him, like I mentioned earlier. She needs to adore him. Yeah. And he needs to be able to provide, protect, and make her feel secure and safe. The average guy's not doing that. How do you feel you know, the lay of the land where masculinity is at the moment? Because like, we are— I wouldn't say a crisis, but like you said, low T, men giving into vices such as porn, drinking beer, etc., no real ambition in life. How do you believe men could reclaim and empower themselves by becoming more masculine?

Yeah, so it's such a weird phase that we're in where it's like the word— even the word like saying like a masculine, or we use the word toxic masculinity.

That's always the word associated with it, which is crazy.

Nuts.

Like, that's crazy. Like men used to want to be called masculine, you know, and it feels good. Yeah, it used to be— it's a nice word.

I like saying the word. You kind of feel a bit stronger saying it.

I'm like, oh, it's spelled nice, but yeah, it kind of looks like the word muscle. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Yeah, that, that's what I think when I see it.

So it's super weird that they've now got this like negative attachment to it. As it's the first thing, men need to stop being ashamed of being masculine or wanting to be masculine. It's so weird. And I think I I think it'd have to have came with the whole gender trans thing, like, in the last couple of years, and say men can't be men or women can't be women. Oh, you have to be this. Or, or the people that can't answer— have you ever seen the people that can't answer what is a woman? Yeah, there was someone just on Piers Morgan like a few days ago, Clementine or something her name was, and she's a feminist. And then they asked her, what is a woman? And she couldn't answer it. And she's a feminist.

What the hell?

This is the craziest shit I ever see.

The whole thing is so backwards.

It's so backwards. I was literally watching that like, this is a skit. This has to be a joke. And then I like watched some of her other interviews. She cannot answer the question, what is a woman? It's someone with female genitalia. Yeah. Certain, certain chromosomes.

Yes. And the characteristics as well.

Female. It's the easiest answer in the world. And she cannot answer that. It is absolutely crazy.

She have a reason why she couldn't answer?

No. She says no. Nope, nope, I'm not answering that. She was like, no, I'm not getting baited into that. Baited into what? Yeah, anyways, it's crazy. Going back to Piers Morgan's actually— he's pretty based. He was like— he said the same, but, uh, good phrase, based. Yeah, he's pretty, pretty chill. Um, but yeah, so I think it's weird that we had this like gender war where we're not allowed like say a man is a man or a woman is a woman. We're not allowed to define them. And I think that like, uh, that played into it a little bit. I think that's kind of going now, thankfully. And then, yeah, men just need to stop being ashamed of like the word masculinity and like play, leaning more into characteristics like being a protector, being strong, being athletic, being, you know, a provider. You know, it's as simple as that.

Just play into the characteristics of what it is.

They're all great positive things. Yeah, it's nuts.

Why wouldn't you? Like you, like I mentioned, you feel empowered when you're actually leaning into it. Of it. And like you said earlier, Linda's a very feminine woman, but I think she's maybe feminine in her own way, but you've given her that platform to be very feminine because you are providing, protecting, looking after, the excitement of traveling, everything else.

So it's like, ah, she lies in, she sleeps in like everything.

Yeah, nah, she actually gets up early now with me. Yeah, but whenever she wants to lie in, I just let her lie in.

Yeah, but you've given her that freedom to go and be that way. Like, I think I remember seeing her video not too long ago, she's got the ultimate routine, Pilates course, makes a little iced latte she does her Pilates, you know, it's great. For a woman to remain feminine as well, she's got to be living in her body. Because women, women, like, that's why you never ask a woman a question where you're going. A man just leads with assertiveness because he knows the direction where he's taking it, whether that's for a meal or a night away or whatever it might be. It's like, you men live up here. We're so taught, we just think we're analytical, we're deciding what to do, we're always planning for things. But women want to remain in their bodies. They don't want to be asked fucking questions. They're all based on feeling and intuition and being in their feminine energy. Often you hear— I don't know if you've seen it before, but, um, they say like, uh, they don't— you basically, they don't use their mind. You don't want to ask a woman a question. Oh yeah, man.

No, yeah, no, yeah, just, just lead the way. Lead the way. Yeah, don't be— don't ask. Like, where do you want to go for dinner time? Yeah, like, I booked this place for a— we're gonna go.

Yeah. Any other masculine elements, uh, that have me—

I think if I choose one, like, I could name like 100, you know, bravado, all the charisma, this. You can name 100, but I think if I had to just choose one, it would be like, uh, be a provider. Be a provider. Be a provider and be a protector. I think they're the main two, aren't they? They're the main thing, you know. Look after your family, look after your friends, your sisters, everything. Be the ultimate man. Yeah, yeah. Because like, generally speaking, like, men are stronger and larger than women, you know. And it's like, oh, cancel for that now. Yeah, just, just always look out, always look out for the people around you. Yeah, that's it. I love it. Be nice.

I love it. You've definitely conquered the mind, the body. Is there a spiritual element to yourself? Do you believe in God or what's that look like?

I was raised Catholic. Okay. Yeah, actually, I guess lost faith or stopped praying to God for a few years there. And then I just came back more into it. And someone said to me, they're like, praying to God is just like meditating. Yeah. And I was like, that really stuck with me. And I was like, now, me and Linda always pray every night, just say a few quick prayers.

Oh yeah, you do together? Yeah, we just do it together.

Yeah. No way. Yeah, I've seen a clip there recently.

Williamson had this professor from Harvard on, he's a relationship expert. He said the most intimate thing that, um, partners can do is pray together.

I did not know that, which is fascinating.

You do it already?

Yeah, we do it already. Yeah, we do. And it's just a few— we only started doing it like the last year. Well, I think— yeah, we just put our hands together and just give thanks at the end of the day.

And yeah, and you say this out loud, just in your own head, or— I should say it out loud.

Yeah, that's a special relationship. Yeah, I don't know, it's a sickest relationship ever. Yeah, it's dope.

That should be your next book, man.

Yeah, yeah, no, honestly, it should. Like, I don't know, I don't know anyone who's— well, maybe a handful. 99% of people, like, you know, haven't had like a 7-year-long relationship, you know.

I don't know, it shows, it shows great character in a person that can maintain a relationship that long because, yeah, relationships require a lot of effort. And like you said, maintaining your own you know, ways of developing yourself, but it's also investing so much in another person as well.

Oh, I know. Yeah, but it's the most— pays off. It's, it's the biggest investment. Like, honestly, like, I couldn't do my day-to-day without Linda. Like, physically, anything in terms of actually like working and getting content and getting and staying on top of my to-do list and everything. Like, we will very much work as a team.

Is, is that because that love that she gives you is such a platform of support and security?

But that, and she just just literally helps me spin my—

like, literally just helps me a lot. Like, that's beautiful, man. That's beautiful. I absolutely love that. Um, man, we've covered— we've covered a good bit so far. We'll bring this one in for a landing, Rob. Bring this one in for a landing. Um, tell me, what is it that you want to be remembered for, or as?

I want to be remembered for— it sounds stupid— go for it— like, just being like that that, that guy from Ireland, that like that fitness guy, you know, that made it, that got— not even that made it, just that, that got— really got loads of people into the gym, encouraged a lot of people to get healthy and work out, you know. And just be like, you know, I, I posted like, um, it was like a reel on TikTok yesterday about like starting a YouTube challenge in 2014, and loads of people were commenting being like, you, you first taught me about macros, you first got me into gym with your push-pull-leg split it. That, that just makes me so happy. That's— that was literally— makes me so, so happy when I like read a message or a comment that just says that they got into the gym, they started taking their health and fitness more seriously because of some content I put out or some— something I did. So having great— that, that's it. I want to get as many people into health and fitness as possible. I love that, man. That's it. It's always been, always been the case because once, once you've— if you change someone's health and fitness, you've made the biggest impact on their life ever and they'll always remember you.

That's so true. And it always does. It always starts with health and fitness. It always does. And like, you, the description you gave there is just have an impact on the world and being a person of service. Yeah. I think as a man it's very important. How can we be of service to the world and we get some much back in return?

I want to be like essentially like the, the Irish Greg Plitt of this generation. Big inspiration for you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably number one. One starting.

Yeah, what's the big— the, the key takeaway you took from him?

There's a lot. Okay, actually there's one, one huge— like, there's so many quotes. I love his quotes. I love his physique. I love his way trained and his energy. Oh, insane. The fact that he's dead as well is— yeah, crazy. Martyred. Yeah. The best one is he said, you know, if you're thinking you're burnt out or that you're gonna quit, you're about to give go into a children's fire ward or a cancer ward and stare them in the face and tell them that you're tired. Yeah, just perspective. I can't— perspective. I think about that quote every single day. Or like, imagine, like, you— is there also— I think you said this as well, like, going to some veteran who's had their legs blown off and you're like, I'm not arse, go to gym, say— yeah, just say to them, say, I'm not arse, and arse running. They would like— just do anything. They would give, give everything they have to just be able to run. And like, for me, exercise is so important. I'm like, how the fuck do you take, take things for granted? I was literally sick. People are sick and have no fucking legs, and they would just do anything.

So how blessed we are to have a body.

Yeah, so that's, that's the one.

That's the one for me. Rob Lipsett, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you so much, bro. Here, smash that. Yeah, thank you very much.

Killed it. No, boom! That was awesome. That was great. Thanks, really good.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.