FEEL FREE
FEEL FREE is a general wellness podcast centered around health, habits, and hobbies. Jon Cerone, a recovering addict, and his guests use stories of adversity and comedy in order to inspire others to chase their dreams and live their best lives.
FEEL FREE
Aidan Thimm: Transforming Life through Sobriety, Discipline and Fitness
Imagine achieving a level of focus and sleep you never thought possible; Aiden's living proof, marking four months of sobriety and a fitness journey that's nothing short of extraordinary. Celebrate with us as he details the 'superpowers' he's gained and the ambitious goal of completing 100,000 pushups within the year. His story is a testament to the idea that discipline and dedication can truly transform your life, inspiring us to examine our own resolutions and routines.
And it's not just our physical health we're nurturing; mental and emotional well-being are at the core of this episode's essence. Aidan open up about his morning rituals, including exercise, meditation, and wisdom from stoic philosophers, fostering resilience and a positive mindset. We round out the conversation highlighting the strength found in sobriety during tough times and its influence on Aidan’s father's health and lifestyle.
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Welcome back to another episode of Feel Free, the only podcast that will tell you to chase dreams. Call you out and all your bullshit, myself included. I am joined today by my buddy, Aiden, back for another episode where we're talking about sobriety, physical fitness, wellness, chasing your goddamn dreams and just having a good time. So how you doing today.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. It's great to be back here with you, john, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:You had a seven hour drive today, is that right? Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:Woke up at 4.45 this morning, killed a great body weight workout and then hit the open road.
Speaker 1:Nice. So last time Aiden was on the podcast you were driving to Colorado, correct Right To work at a ski mountain there. Now, on your way back, you felt like stopping by the studio for another episode right, couldn't miss an opportunity to be in the studio, oh yeah. Actually the first person in the new studio as well. I love it. It looks fantastic.
Speaker 2:Thank you Appreciate that. Also wanted to say we did not plan these matching outfits.
Speaker 1:No, we didn't. No, we didn't. But honestly, great minds think alike, right Indeed they do Hell yeah. Yeah, I didn't even notice that. So obviously you're back here to talk about all things well, recovery and fitness related, just your self-development journey in general. Right For the listeners, though, I think you're hitting a milestone today, right? Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:Today marks four months of sobriety from alcohol for me, nice.
Speaker 1:Congratulations, thank you very much. Feels good, and also a couple months without marijuana too.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, last time I smoked was New Year's Eve and was just kind of thinking and realized well, it's about to be a new year, may as well. Stop now. That's so true, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually a lot of people use the New Year's resolutions and obviously you know it doesn't always work out. I think I did an episode where I talked about that too, but if you could take an enroll with it, yeah, so you're fucking almost three months now without weed. That's huge.
Speaker 2:Almost two months. If we're at the end of.
Speaker 1:February, genuine, almost two months, yeah, sorry. So how does that feel then?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, it feels fantastic. Like I was talking to you about earlier, I feel like I have superpowers now. I just feel like I can handle anything that comes my way. I have clear trains of thought, I can focus, I can concentrate. It just feels really good and I'm also sleeping a lot better. I'm remembering all of my dreams. Nice, it's been a fantastic change, and it was something that was a lot tougher for me to give up than alcohol, because it seemed to be a lot less of a problem in my life or at least that's what I told myself. But I knew I needed to get rid of it and I'm really glad that I finally made that decision.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean just overall clarity, energy levels. Yeah, I also didn't have the biggest problem cutting that one out when I actually got sober. It was kind of how you did it. You got sober from the alcohol first and you kind of used the weed to get through those beginning stages, because it's a little brutal, not even just like withdrawals, but like changing what you do for your life, like not going out to bars or not going to certain situations. So I think at three or four weeks of being sober from everything else, that's when I gave up weed too. But it wasn't too difficult for me because when I smoked weed I didn't want to work out. So giving up weed I was like, all right, I feel like working out now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was something that you can get rid of that allows you to do all of the things you need to do Exactly.
Speaker 1:So four months sober from alcohol, coming up on two months sober from weed huge milestones. And so let's talk about your fitness, because what you're posting on Instagram it's crazy, because you look like kind of like a movie star. That's what I've been talking about people say you're coming on the podcast and I'm like dude, this guy's fucking shredded, he's yolk, but you're putting in the work. I mean, when I heard you did 300 burpees this morning, that's kind of speaking for itself, right there.
Speaker 2:Indeed, yes, I've been working out seven days a week since I got sober, so for the last four months I haven't missed a day, holy fuck. When we spoke last time, I was on a program where I did a different muscle group every day. I'm on a bit of a different program now where I'll do two days of chest, front and side delts and triceps, two days of legs and two days of back traps, lats and rear delts, and then I sprinkle abs in on three of those days. But then Sunday is my rest day. Okay, but rest days are for catching up on pushups. Nice, my new year's resolution was I'm doing 100,000 pushups this year, so I have to stay on schedule. And actually, speaking of milestones, today I've been a little bit behind on my pushups and this morning I hit 15,000 for the year.
Speaker 2:So, 15% of my weight to the goal and I decided to calculate how far we are into the year. We're exactly 15% of the way through the year, so I am back on track as of today. Nice, that feels good, jesus.
Speaker 1:I remember you were starting this and you're like I'm going to do 50,000 pushups, right.
Speaker 2:I did that for a week and I realized that goal was going to be way too easy to hit. I needed something to challenge me and I said, okay, if I double it, I'm going to have to average about 274 pushups a day. Now, that's going to be challenging, but it's definitely doable, and I like even numbers. So 100,006 figures.
Speaker 1:Let's do it. Right, that's fucked. I was just saying Tony that's fucked Great goal to have. You're putting out a lot of content too. I always like checking on your pushup count see where you're at, so it's nice that you're back on track for that. So when you say you don't do the rest days because you're still catching up on pushups, like you said, do you see yourself doing rest days or will you do a rest week? Maybe? No, okay. I mean until the pushup thing is reached, though right, because that's number one goal, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's my number one goal. I said I was going to do it, so I'm going to do it. But my rest days I do really enjoy doing just pushups, because I'm not doing an additional heavy workout with dumbbells, barbells, machines, whatever it's just a light bodyweight workout. I do like staying active every day, so I can definitely see myself doing that into the future. Nice, I mean at the bare minimum, doing my morning routine workout, which is 100 pushups, 100 squats and 50 crunches.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, it's pretty. I mean, for someone like you that's probably pretty easy, though, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just. It's more of a discipline thing to me at this point, nice, but there's something that feels off if I'm not active during the day. So my rest days will always be more restful, but there will always be activity.
Speaker 1:Okay, nice. Yeah, like I was telling you earlier, I think this past week was the most active I've been in a long time. I did take a rest day on Thursday, though no pushups Like full on rest day, and then the other eight days I've been extremely active. Now I wanted to ask in your fitness routine there was a lot of lifting and there was a lot of isolated muscle groups, and then there was abs too. Do you do cardio or I do cardio?
Speaker 2:That's okay. Um, not really, I would say, if anything, cardio is external, like when I was on the mountain. I didn't do a whole lot of snowboarding this season, but I'd get some snowboarding in. Running is something I'd like to get back into this summer. It's just something I haven't done in a long time and I don't have any running shoes. And every time I try to run in vans, it's just not going to work.
Speaker 2:Not good for the knees. So, um, I do want to introduce a little bit of cardio back into my life, but I do tend to focus mostly on the weightlifting. Okay.
Speaker 1:Nice. Yeah, most people hate cardio. I think if you find a cardio that you really like, then it can be fun, but also, you know like I play a lot of basketball. Yes, my other question was going to be other than, like the weightlifting, you had just stated that you didn't snowboard a lot, which would also be a form of cardio too. Do you see yourself getting into like some sort of extracurricular hobby or like a sport or like some sort of wrestling, or are you just going to strictly stick to your workout?
Speaker 2:Um, I definitely want to get into boxing. Nice, um, I did that a little bit with my cousin last year, just doing some heavy bag routines and some speed bag routines, and that was probably my favorite form of cardio I've ever done, and just how gassed you feel after, uh, after six, 12 rounds on a bag. Um, so, boxing, and then eventually I would like to get into some other types of martial arts. Um, when I have more time in the future. Right, that's that's cool.
Speaker 1:I tried getting into Tai Chi, but that's more like moving meditation. It's not mostly like cardio, then yeah.
Speaker 2:I think, uh, jiu Jitsu would be really cool, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I actually had a Jiu Jitsu coach, uh, on the podcast. Yeah, he's, he's a black belt, and Jiu Jitsu he's a teacher. So, um, I have a few other buddies who like Jiu Jitsu. I've never really been a big wrestler, though, so the whole grappling and rolling around on the ground things never stood out to me. So, um, I have gotten into the stationary bike recently in the last few weeks though. So, okay, yeah, cause that does help with my endurance for basketball.
Speaker 2:Like an assault bike or just a regular bike.
Speaker 1:No, just a regular bike, okay. Um. Well, like at the gym, the stationary ones, not the one where you're like sitting back, the ones you're still sitting up, so, but not like the spin class ones. Is that what an assault bike is?
Speaker 2:An assault bike is the one with the fan where the front wheel is and you have the, the two arm things that you're pumping to, just going hard with your arms and your legs.
Speaker 1:No, no I don't think they have those at LA Fitness. They got, yeah, they got like, they got like they got like they got like. They got like ellipticals and normal stationary bikes, but uh, I like that in like rowing. Um, I do enjoy rowing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, rowing is cool. Um, or sometime on the arc trainer, if I'm ever around those. What are those? It's a machine that Cybex makes. It's kind of like an elliptical, but I don't know how I could describe the difference, but it feels different. It feels a little bit more uh flowy, if you will. Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I do like those forms of cardio because they're better on the joints. Running is tough, though, because it is hard on the fucking joints.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, but it makes your bones stronger.
Speaker 1:It does. Yeah, if you have the right shoes, like you said. Can't be running in vans though. Yes, yeah, you're gonna fuck your shit up then. I like Brooks for running my running shoes when I do get around to running. Um, my brother's really big on Nike because he he's still training. I think he's training for the 800 meter right now, but he's been really big on the Nike. So my next question was going to be how's the nutrition going? How was the nutrition in Colorado? Because you didn't really have like a kitchen right To prepare your meals.
Speaker 2:Well, we do have a community kitchen there, so I would do my best to pick one day out of the week where I did a ton of meal prep and I was able to stick with that pretty well. Um, the quality of the food wasn't always the best. I mean, I was doing my best to just eat Chicken, rice, veggies, but canned chicken For sure.
Speaker 2:Being out in Summit County, the groceries are far more expensive than they are back here. So it's just you leave the grocery store and you're like I bought canned chicken and rice. How is it this much? But so I was sticking to a macro plan for a while, trying to eat the same amount of macros throughout five meals in the day, but that ultimately was just really inconvenient. So I've switched over to a more intuitive form of eating where I just eat good foods. I'm still tracking my daily macros, but they're not evenly divided between meals anymore. So I have like a yogurt bowl that I'll make. I'll have an oat bowl that I make.
Speaker 2:Canned chicken and rice is a huge staple Ground turkey and cream of rice. I usually like to keep it simple, but occasionally I'll go with some ground beef. But that usually is tough to keep my fat levels down with that. But that's where it comes back to the intuitive eating, because ground beef is extremely good for you. It has all of the amino acids the body needs. So I've definitely been eating more fat than I was and kind of experimenting with what that does to my body. Like I notice, if I'm increasing my fat content a lot, my abs do lose definition. But having the body type that we have, it's really hard to put on any sort of significant weight. So I do eat sticks of butter. People judge me for that and think I'm crazy, but I think it's delicious and butter is very good for you, despite what we've been led to believe about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean, we could have a whole podcast episode about how things are portrayed here in America, whether that's health or politics or anything like that. So true, because they even said that red meat's bad for you, bad for your heart, and I'm like, yeah, but most of the people that are saying this are really overweight doctors.
Speaker 1:I don't look at America and think like, yeah, they got it figured out with health. So if you do your own research, I think you'd come to the conclusion that red meat's pretty good for you. I mean, my brother eats steak and ground beef and fruit and honey, and he's fucking running like an absolute animal. I'm interested on the butter thing, though. My dad would be really happy to hear you say that, because he loves butter and he says when he dies that we're going to bury him in the casket with just a bunch of butter.
Speaker 2:I like that idea. I would totally be down for that.
Speaker 1:Send me off in the lake, Johnny, and shoot one of those flaming arrows at me with all the butter in there.
Speaker 2:Go Viking funeral yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, butter is nice, though it's nice cooking with it too. Do you have any? So, like you said, the groceries were actually more expensive up there. Now that you're going to be moving back to the Midwest, are you going to be back on that liver grind? Are you going to be back on the organ grind?
Speaker 2:I'm so excited for that Because, being in the mountains well, especially Colorado you'd think that there'd be local butchers to go to, but a lot of places that were close by to me you had to buy at least a quarter cow and I don't have a deep freezer or a place to put all of that meat. So I was just getting grass-fed ground beef from the grocery store but no organ meat. So I am very excited to be back in Plymouth getting my liver, heart and testicle. I was taking some supplements from the fittest some liver, thyroid, adrenal liver and bone marrow but you don't get nearly the amount that you're looking for with just supplements.
Speaker 1:Right, I was going to say the. What is it? The bioavailability of it just doesn't compare it if you were to actually eat the organ itself, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I mean, it's bioavailable. It's just a very small quantity, whereas I can just take liver out of the freezer, cut off an ounce hunk, and that's usually good for the day. Right, put it in my smoothies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you had mentioned when you were here before that you were experimenting with different smoothies recipes in order to get rid of the liver taste.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think the next smoothie I'm going to be trying is liver, whey protein and a few eggs. See how that tastes. Nice, Nice protein, fat bomb, lots of vitamins.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah. Yeah, I eat a lot of carbs, but it's mostly fruit.
Speaker 2:And those are good carbs, right.
Speaker 1:As long as you're active, otherwise you're just going to crash.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, the whole point of eating carbohydrates is to provide yourself with energy, and they're important for fueling muscle growth after a workout.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that, so I'm going to keep that in mind when I come and smash a tin of raspberries when I get home from a workout so fucking good.
Speaker 2:I do want to get away from eating processed carbs because I've been really all about the rice cakes and I guess plain rice cakes are probably fine, but I'm a sucker for the apple cinnamon ones and they do have a lot of sugar in them and they sure provide good energy for a workout. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1:The apple cinnamon ones sound really fucking fire.
Speaker 2:They are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the oatmeal I get too.
Speaker 2:And I eat like a tablespoon of cinnamon in a day. I swear I put it in my oat bowls, I put it in my yogurt bowls.
Speaker 1:Really good for digestion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, end of something. Yeah, it's really good for digestion, I know it was good for inflammation, but I haven't heard the digestion thing before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think my doctor told me that too. Maybe one other buddy who's really into nutrition told me that as well, I think. Well, apples are my favorite fruits too, so anytime you throw a fucking apple in something, I'm going to eat it you know for sure. I get shit for this a lot, because my favorite apple is red, delicious, oh yeah, what do you? Think what do you think? What do you?
Speaker 2:think I'll talk a little shit about that.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, the classic lunchbox apple. I don't know I'm a honey crisp guy personally there's no taste. That's the most flavorful apple you're talking about it's like watery Honey crisp apples from Michigan in the fall.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a little different. I'm going to have to go up there and investigate. It's totally different.
Speaker 2:And it depends on if they're in season or out of season. I've definitely tasted red delicious apples that I enjoy.
Speaker 1:They got to be good, though you can't just go and pick out the ones that aren't good, because then it's like my buddy's like said it you're eating a wax apple.
Speaker 1:Because, the skin's really waxy, I get it, you know. But if you get the good ones, like with the good crunch, and they're super sweet, that's just. It's my favorite. Actually, lisa has given me shit since we've started dating. She goes you're eating the worst fucking apple. And I'm like all right, whatever. And I go to jewel and I sift through all the apples and I Take an apple from each one. I'm like all right, I'm gonna give it a shot, I'm gonna try these apples, because everyone wants to talk shit about my apple. Nope, red delicious, still it's it. Well, how do you feel about?
Speaker 2:Fuji apples. Fuji, you're good, okay, yeah, I like Fuji, probably second to honey, chris. Okay, what about?
Speaker 1:gala, you like gala?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure. It's been a while since I've had a gala apple.
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:Experiment with my apples as much as you do, right, yeah.
Speaker 1:I did a lot of spite.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:I was like I used to get a lot of shit for only watching anime and people raved about Game of Thrones for fucking a decade. I'm like, all right, out of spite, I'm gonna watch Game of Thrones, you know. Just so I can tell them it's not that good and like, oh, it's actually pretty good.
Speaker 2:You never know what you're gonna find out exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we've talked a little bit about Fitness, talked a little bit about nutrition. What are you doing for Mental and emotional health? I know you have a really strict morning routine. Are you reading any books, any other hobbies that you're into?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the morning routine really helps center me every day, immediately upon wake up, make my bed, do my hundred push-ups, hundred squats, 50 crunches, have a mug of herbal tea, meditate for 15 minutes and then I do a daily reading out of the art of living by epic Tetus. I've started studying stoic philosophy and that has helped me immensely. Just it's offered me a new perspective on life and Trying to worry about so many things that might happen to you and just accepting them as they come and being the strongest Person that you can be in order to face anything that life may throw at you. So I've benefited a lot from that. I've been reading some other mindset books as well.
Speaker 2:As a man thinketh by James Allen Is a fantastic one. It's like 20 pages. So I just read it over and over and over again and just kind of get the the messages drilled into my mind. And then I've been reading think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill quite a bit as well. And Just keeping the mindset positive I think is really important. And guarding your subconscious from what enters it is a very intimidating task because your subconscious picks up everything, every bit of stimuli that enters your mind. So I've been, I've been doing a better job with guarding what enters my subconscious, and a lot of that has to do with keeping my time occupied by reading those books, saying affirmations and just noticing when negative thoughts slip in and immediately replacing them with positivity. So it's been tough, but I'm getting better at it. I've noticed my mind becoming stronger.
Speaker 1:Nice, yeah, it sounds like it, especially with the stoicism thing. I was going to ask did you read the, the meditations? No, that is on my list to get though. Nice, yeah, I mean, that's one. Everyone raves about that one. I think I also have letters from a stoic. I think that's by Seneca. Seneca, okay, there's also a stoic, and then Marcus Raleighus is a stoic. I've heard good things about the Epictetus one. Somebody I had on the podcast a few weeks ago mentioned Epictetus, so I'm going to have to give that one a shot too.
Speaker 2:It's great because a lot of the passages are either less than a page or a couple pages, so I just do one reading every day and I'll read it throughout the day and meditate on it and incorporate it. And actually, epictetus was the teacher of Marcus Raleighus. Oh really, I feel like he's more often quoted, so I am excited to get my hands on meditations, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just finished that one, actually summer last year I finished that. Right now I'm reading a little Frederick Nietzsche, but that's not yeah, yeah, that's not really any sort of stoicism or positivity I would call it, or self development is what I would call it. It's more, yeah, just strict philosophy. At that point I think I also listen to a biography on Abraham Lincoln that won the Polter Award last year. It's pretty intense, yeah.
Speaker 2:That sounds really fascinating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was pretty, it was pretty dope, and I mean not to get off topic, let me just tell you this OK, this man was like losing. Ok, like we think of him as, like you know, emancipation proclamation, civil war, guys, president in 1860. Ok, and leading up to that, this man could not win Right Because he was like anti slavery, just never won any political races, would just get shit on all the time, you know, and then finally, just like, fucking turns it around, people started trusting him and shit, and then, yeah, it becomes one of the greatest presidents ever, you know.
Speaker 2:Napoleon Hill actually talked about that and thinking grow rich about how Abraham Lincoln didn't really hit his stride until he was past 40. Yep Talking about how a lot of men hit their stride between the ages of 40 and 60. Which is kind of fascinating.
Speaker 1:Right, and I think we were talking about this earlier, about when I was saying I was too hard on myself. Sometimes we're too hard on ourselves and in this really fast paced society and I think this is important with how you're talking about your mental fortitude and how strong you're getting mentally when we open up our phones, maybe it's social media or maybe it's the news and all these things entering, like you said, like the stimuli in the subconscious, I think, being able to not compare ourselves. So, like I was saying, I'm 30 years old Right, I'm trying to compare myself to maybe the John in 10 or 20 years. You got to be right here. You got to be 45 year old John right now, at the age of 30, in terms of mental toughness, success and development Right, but that's unrealistic to think.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're saying that you're trying to compare yourself now to who you want to be in the future, exactly Right.
Speaker 1:And it gets me down, or other aspects of life, when people over here in America very fast paced capitalistic World. It's like you got to get out of college, you got to get a job, you got to find a wife, you got to have kids, get the fucking house, you got to do this, bang, bang, bang. And then you start comparing yourself to everyone else. Well, this is the way things are supposed to do. And then you just get like sad thinking that way You're like that's not my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't compare to other people and that is really hard to pull yourself out of that, because I was stuck in that for the longest time, comparing myself to my friends who were more successful, to people I saw on the internet that were more successful. But on this personal development journey I've really been able to reel it back in and and say, like, where do I want to be in 10 years and what do I have to do today to move towards that goal? Right, and that's what I've been focused on and I don't compare myself to who I'll be in 10 years, but I think will my self in 10 years be proud of what I'm doing today.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 2:Will I look back and be like, wow, 28 year old, and he really started getting his shit together and that's the reason I'm where I'm at now.
Speaker 1:Right, it's a very I can say that's a very stoic way to think about it, the whole looking back and being like, yeah, I'm proud of the person I was when I started making those changes. You know, which comes with not being hard on yourself, I think. And also, yeah, like I still fall into that trap. I don't know if I compare myself to other people as much as, like I said, I compare myself to the version of John. I think I should be, you know.
Speaker 2:And that's the word should, should. What does that mean?
Speaker 1:Expectations, expectations that don't need to be there, can't be met, actually, yeah, just can't be met. Stupid. You know, it's one thing to have goals and then it's one thing to have expectations.
Speaker 2:Yes, expectations can ruin a lot of things, right. I think it's important to have goals and just to be accountable to them, to say like, all right, if this is where I wanna be, this is what I have to do, and if I'm not doing that, then I'm not in alignment with my goal and I can be a little hard on myself, I mean, but, like you said, we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves. We need to be able to break every once in a while, because the road to success is filled with speed bumps, right, but it is important to take course. Corrective action Afterwards yes, but, like we were talking about earlier, how you had those nights where you watched Lord of the Rings and ate ice cream, and I had that night where I ate a shit ton of candy and binged Netflix.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we needed those. You might feel bad about it in the moment, but you look back and you're like all right, it's kind of a nice little break from all of this personal development. Now I can move forward, learn the lesson from the experience, right, and keep going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, get back on the horse, keep going. Yeah, I think doing things like that just kind of means your soul was trying to tell you something like hey, fucking, ease up. You know Been going hard for a minute now, you know, and burnout's no joke. So you definitely got to face that. And if, like you said, if you miss a goal, I think being able to change things up like a routine, like if the way you're going about something isn't working, don't quit but reevaluate. You know, like, if I don't like working out at a certain time, there's definitely another time during the day that I can figure out a better time to work out. You know, if I feel like shit eating a certain type of food, but it's easy to get, it's easy and convenient, I'll stop eating it and try and cook a different meal. You know we have to be able to adapt Right, right, and it's really easy to slip up and then go scorched earth. You say fuck it. All you know.
Speaker 1:Or, like I mean, for you right now that seems like probably outlandish, because you're like you've got a really good routine going in terms of your fitness, your mental fortitude, your nutrition, and that's like locked in too. I've been through a lot of ups and downs in my recovery away from drugs and alcohol and there's been moments where I've been like what you're doing and then there's moments where it's like I can't work out. I'm just gonna play video games for four months and eat like shit and smoke cigars, you know, and I don't know if I don't know if I need to do that again. You know, I hope the last time I did that was now my authentic self saying hey, if you're gonna like eat ice cream and watch movies for a few days, just realize that you can go to the gym and get back on your horse. You know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's okay to slip up. You don't have to completely quit Right. Regret is not a choice, it's a guideline.
Speaker 1:Like that. Yeah, I could definitely tell you're reading the stoicism, for sure, yeah you'll definitely like the meditations, then it's a lot of that stuff. Any hobbies other than like working out and stuff.
Speaker 2:Not really. I've pretty much eliminated everything from my life that isn't working out reading, writing or making content. Fuck, like it got to the point, snowboarding is one of my favorite things in the world to do, but towards the end of my stint at Copper I just didn't feel like going at all. My friends are like do you want to go out one last time before you leave? I'm like nope, I'm not interested.
Speaker 2:Anything that's not getting me closer to my goals I'm not interested in, because I spent the last 10 years fucking around so much Like I got it in. I got in all the partying, all the lazing around, all the hobbies Not to say that I won't have hobbies in the future. But I'm very much in grind mode now. Nice, I have my eyes on some goals and I'm working really hard towards creating the life that I want so that I can have some money, have some financial freedom, and then re-evaluate Okay, what do I want to do with my free time now? That's kind of where I'm at right now. It's a good place to be, sounds like, it feels good. I've never felt this before and that's another thing the sobriety has helped me with. I'm just like I'm all about it now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a nice grind to be on. I honestly I started going to NA. Like I was telling you, I'm not super big on the book or the program itself.
Speaker 2:I have read through it and I have Is that similar to AA?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it is. Narcotics Anonymous is very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, like the 12-step program and stuff like that. Maybe there's a little changes here and there in the books, but I did notice that my therapist mentor at the time who helped me get sober in my first three years, he definitely helped me through those steps, whether I realized it or not. So that's really good. And the community aspect too. It's nice going there once a week and just talking to other sober people and just hearing their struggles or their thought processes, because I haven't had a lot of that. I like talking to Brandon and Muncie and now you about it, because, yeah, I'm really big on the sobriety thing. It's completely changed my life for the better. Even if you have a bad day, it's way easier to deal with when you're sober.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I've come to believe that sobriety is a prerequisite for any sort of meaningful success.
Speaker 2:All the people that I see online that are extremely successful people that I follow all of them are sober and just seeing what Brandon has done with his life, I love being a part of the circle of you, muncie and Brandon, like you said, being able to talk with other people who have gone through the same thing and are all moving forward with their lives.
Speaker 2:I think the sobriety is very important and I try not to push it on people, because I know a lot of people do enjoy a lot of people can enjoy drinking responsibly and just have that moderation. But I also do want to push the message like you should try being sober. You should try it. It's incredible, I mean, I've just started to feel my intuition come through more and just be able to listen to that, and that's something that I feel like was very quieted by the substances for many years and I just feel like I'm moving in the right direction and I continue to receive signs from the universe that I am moving in the right direction and I can pick up on those signs and feel gratitude for them, and then more signs keep coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say what did you say earlier when I mentioned that you had quit marijuana too? And you're like, yeah, it's like a superpower. Yeah, the sobriety is like a fucking superpower, I believe.
Speaker 2:Like two weeks after quitting weed, I just felt like, wow, this is a whole new level of clarity.
Speaker 1:It's fucking insane. Yeah, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I got three more months and then I'll be five years sober. So I always keep thinking that's fucking crazy man. That's an awesome milestone man. Yeah, thanks, it gets crazier as I think about it. Well, we were talking about before. Sometimes I do get down to myself for not completing the things I want, and then I mentioned that to somebody at NA and they go hey, but you were sober today. I was like, yeah, you're fucking right. And then I'm like shit, I've been sober for almost five years. It's like Fucking something right there.
Speaker 2:I got damn, you know that's exactly what I said to myself when I had that candy Netflix night I. It felt almost like a relapse to me. But I'm like I'm still sober Right, just ate a bunch of shit and and watch some Netflix. But I didn't drink and smoke, didn't do any drugs right.
Speaker 1:Well, it's cuz you, you would you had channeled it a little bit. You know that I call, I call him my fiend. You know sometimes you do channel that. If I channel it with the video games or the, the sweets or something like that, you know the, the fiend in me, will never die. It's just you have to direct the, the lower self, in a positive manner. You know, as Brandon and I would talk about. You know it's.
Speaker 1:It's funny talking about the dichotomy between the higher self and the lower self, because there's like this fearlessness that the lower self had, or like our old selves that used to use we were fearless, was just like I'm just gonna drink and party and do whatever, I'm not afraid to shit, I'm just gonna go fucking hard, you know. But that came with a very destructive, very destructive behavior. And now, as you're sober, I'm like, well, I want that fearlessness. You know, in my life I want that energy, you know, but I want it to be positive and healthy. You know that's been my ultimate goal in recovery, other than healing, and being sober is like I want to channel my authentic self, that energy.
Speaker 1:I want to find the authentic fiend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just like loving and living life completely like that, it's a nice journey you know it is Channeling my authentic fiend into exercise right, the exercising every day. Another reason why I don't like taking rest days is the discipline that it's built in me, which is another thing that has helped being sober is Building discipline, but then the building discipline has also helped me be sober, so it's kind of like a self Fulfilling prophecy right, I don't think that's the right term, but it's like a.
Speaker 1:It's like a loop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a positive feedback loop, right, but I just I'm just able to do it every day, like a lot of days I do like working out, but there's plenty of days where I don't feel like doing it. But I always do it like I did those 300 burpees this morning in 10 sets of 30 and those last three sets I did not want to do and and the hotel breakfast started, the smell started coming into the gym so I could just smell bacon. That's. That's funny. But I got down and did them and I felt great about it afterwards and I've just gotten a lot better at keeping my word to myself.
Speaker 2:That's a big thing about doing these hundred thousand push-ups this year is I said I'm going to do it and I'm going to do it, and once I've completed that, that's going to be a huge Mental thing for me, whether I realize it or not, that I Keep my word to myself now, which is something I never used to do, used to let myself down a lot. I used to sell myself short a lot. I think that's part of the reason why I started the year saying I'm going to do 50,000 push-ups, because I was scared of setting too big of a goal. But after that first week I'm like, no, that's too easy, I can do 100,000.
Speaker 1:It's insane, but I know you're going to do it, so I don't see you not doing it. How about that?
Speaker 2:I'm well on my way and I post an update every morning on instagram. I got to stay accountable to people, right, right.
Speaker 1:I think Brandon makes a joke. He goes I got a post that I made my bed and my daily reading for my fans. Because I owe it to them, because they're holding me accountable, john, I'm like alright for sure, because, yeah, you got to hold yourself accountable for shit. Like that. I definitely slip up sometimes, but I have been very consistent with my writing lately, so, whether that's in my phone or on On paper or typing, I'm actually really old school, so I write everything by hand.
Speaker 2:I love writing in my journal. Yeah, that's my favorite way to do it. Yep, the phone is nice because it's easier to make edits like when I'm writing content, I'll go on my phone or laptop. But if I'm just kind of doing a mind stream, getting my thoughts out on paper Is always the best way to do it, for me for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just sometimes Won't be able to crank out more than like a page with my hand, you know, because then it just like starts cramping. Yeah, I've gotten better at being able to type now more because I am trying to Work on the next book, you know, but also with the podcast too, I have a lot of the next book written actually, so I just need to plan it, you know. So I like how you've been talking about Holding yourself accountable, because that is definitely something I need to do when it comes to the next book thing.
Speaker 2:Um, have a timeline and stick to it right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have one written down actually and I keep it in my planner.
Speaker 2:I just need to look at it more so it Actualizes in my brain, you know that's something good to have on the wall or out on your desk so you can see it every day. Right, I get deadline and stays real right.
Speaker 1:I was good with homework deadlines. For some reason, I do it all the night before anyway, but like this procrastinator, right, the shit got done, though, you know. So I need to see those deadlines in order to actualize them. So, yeah, honestly, we've talked about fitness, nutrition, holding yourself accountable, your new love for stoicism, your sobriety, recovery, and then some other shit that I've thrown in there that I was planning on, but, yeah, it made for a good conversation nonetheless. Do you have anything else you want to talk about? Anything for your, your fans.
Speaker 2:Anything for my fans? Not that I can think of right now. It has. It has been a good conversation. I've also been up for a very long time.
Speaker 1:Today I was gonna say yeah, yeah, do you have anything out there for anybody who might be struggling with Holding themselves accountable? Any tips for that?
Speaker 2:I would say start small. Start with little daily actions that you tell yourself that you're going to do something and then do it. Personal development a big thing. A big part of that is about stacking wins daily. So whether it's a big win or a tiny win, it's still a win and those wins compound over time. So Brandon always likes to say and I'm a huge proponent of this as well make your fucking bed. Say you're gonna do it and do it. Wake up time is another good one. Say you're gonna wake up at a certain time and you're not gonna snooze. Your alarm goes off. You get out of bed. Little things like that help build discipline into yourself and then you can move on to bigger and bigger things of staying accountable to those. So start small.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I think that's really great. I was actually listening to a book Atomic Habits.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I read that last year, yeah it's a good one.
Speaker 1:I think he talks about that earlier in the book too. So I've actually been also trying to set smaller, more achievable goals in order to build better habits right. So I think that's a really applicable thing, because sometimes we put a really big goal in our head and we're like I gotta do this right, and then it's overwhelming. You're like, well, I don't even know how to fucking start. You know, but if you do start small with these small wins, small little habits, once you start getting those small wins and victories, you start stacking that shit like compound interest. I think Brandon said that one time, but I totally get it though.
Speaker 2:And the compound interest is you won't see it at first, but it does happen. And you won't see it and all of a sudden it'll be huge and you'll be like, oh wow, I've been stacking all these wins, I have this discipline and it seemed like it came overnight, but it is the result of doing that shit every day, even when it feels like it's not doing anything for you.
Speaker 1:Right. I think another thing that people might get discouraged about I was going to ask if you had any advice for somebody who might be struggling with thinking they need to get sober right. And one misconception that people have, in my opinion and that I've seen in NA and Recovery, is people think that when they get sober all of their problems are going to be fixed. Right, and I don't think that's true at the start. But it definitely gives you the tools and the discipline in order to heal yourself, right. But you don't see, like you don't start to see those things within the first week or two. You're like, well, I quit drinking and smoking. Why is it in my life fixed in two weeks? And it's like, well, you're fucking up for, like you know, like a decade like I was, or a decade like you, you're trying to fix yourself for two weeks, you know so not getting discouraged about that and realizing that the compounding interest is going to come a little later down the road, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really all about sticking with the decision once you've made it and knowing that it's the right thing to do. Quitting, or getting sober in general, is not going to fix all your problems, but it will eventually give you the tools to deal with your problems in a healthy, constructive way and not be overwhelmed by them. Not feel like you're drowning in life, but feeling like you can meet any situation head on.
Speaker 1:Even the bad days are easy to deal with when you're sober.
Speaker 2:Yeah like, for example, when I lost my mom two years ago. I was still drinking pretty heavily during that time, drank a lot to cope with her death. And now that I've gotten sober, I recently found out that my dad is going to have to have heart surgery. And it's just kind of scary to go through with our family because we just lost my mom recently and now my dad's going through this major surgery. But I guess my point is that now that I'm sober I feel like I can deal with that. I can deal with whatever outcome happens. I can be the rock to hold my family together, to be that emotional support for them, and I just feel like, of course I'm a little scared but I'm ready to deal with whatever happens. Because I'm sober, because I have been practicing this discipline in my life, I'm just ready to take on whatever life throws at me. And that's where the stoicism comes into Right.
Speaker 1:I was going to say I'm sorry to hear that, but it looks like you are in the right spot to be dealing with something like this, and it's not easy at all, but I think you are definitely going to be the rock to hold your family together through this, and that's a beautiful thing, too, yeah.
Speaker 2:It feels good, I feel proud of where I'm at and I feel like I've been a good influence on my dad too. He's getting jacked now. He's cutting back on his drinking. He's a strong motherfucker. He's going to be okay.
Speaker 1:I think you're influencing a lot more people than just your dad, but that's awesome too, hell yeah. So keep doing what you're doing and posting about it, because you're helping a lot of people with that too People you don't even know yet. Also, people are going to come across your content and they're going to be inspired like a motherfucker to see what you're doing. So thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some of the most supportive people have been strangers on my Instagram.
Speaker 1:For sure, for sure, especially when you're starting out too. Yeah, I think. Yeah, you're definitely where you need to be. I'm going to tell you that much. So what is next? What's next on this next chapter? You're moving back home. I hear you and Brandon are going to start a rival podcast against me now.
Speaker 2:That we are. It's going to be called the Feel Free your podcast. God damn, fucking A no. Yes, the podcast is in the works. We have some other things in the works as well I don't want to say too much about. I'll say stay tuned to our Instagram. I plan on expanding to more platforms this year. Get on YouTube and TikTok as well, but for now, instagram is the main platform I post on. Follow me at adtfitness, but all I can say is I'm very excited for this next chapter. Brandon and I actually had a conversation earlier today about some puzzle pieces that have been falling into place very recently and everything seems to be aligning. So it feels good to be where I'm at, very excited for what's going to happen over the next year. Hell, yeah, and yeah, we're going to bring all the homies up with us.
Speaker 1:I'm ready for that. So, goddamn, that's dope. Obviously, I don't want too much, I don't want the details, but just to know that you two are going to be putting in some really big work, making some big moves together. I think it's going to be great to have you back in the Midwest, especially with Brandon and Muncie and, as Brandon was talking about in the last podcast, I had him and Muncie on like yeah, some pieces are definitely falling together. So whatever is going to happen in 2024 is going to be dope as fuck.
Speaker 2:I'm ready to say that. That is for sure, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:I think we've had a pretty good episode so far. Follow him at adtfitness on Instagram Adtfitness. I'm also going to drop the handle in the description. Give my man a follow, check out his content, follow his story on self-development, fitness, stoicism and other live and happy, healthy, authentic tips and tricks, and also watch this man do a fucking 100,000 pushups in a year. It's going to be absolutely crazy, but I hope you guys enjoyed the episode we're heading out, so stay up and feel free. Thanks for having me, john, no problem.
