How Hunter McIntyre Became a World Champion | Hunter McIntyre | Ep 59

0:00Hunter McIntyre. What's up, bud? Welcome to the podcast. Why do you do the clap, by the way? Because I can't still figure this out about the media thing. Is that just like a sound cut for you guys? So it lines everything up. It lines the cameras up with the audio. And there's some way of syncing it all behind the scenes. It's just so for when you edit it, there's a big spike in the audio. All right. I like it. I learn something every day. Thank you. I'm very grateful. Thank you for being here. Oh, thank you for letting us be here. We're at your crib. Yeah, I did. The ranch. The famous ranch. You know, honestly, I gotta say I'm grateful because I never sit out here.

0:32So this is something that I can say I'm grateful to you. I think once you've lived up here for so many years, you get so, I kind of just sequester myself inside of that living room right there. And people are like, do you ever eat at this table? And I'm like, no. And then when guests come over, they kind of drag me into other parts of the house. I never really give energy to. So sitting here, I'm actually pretty grateful being here. yeah it's cool we've got the camping chairs out dude best pro shop dude i just say like i think the hillbilly life is just it suits me so well like i call this part of malibu malabama and this is like true hillbilly just perfection dude there's these these lawn chairs you can just sink back in you feel like a total regal guy it cost me 70 bucks where most people in malibu are probably spending seven thousand dollars per chair i feel like a king you are a king thank you for the people who may not know who you are, which I assume everyone listening to this does know who you are, but would you just be able to kind of like summarize yourself?

1:27Yeah. Uh, it changes all the time to be totally honest. Um, I would say that most of my adult life has been defined by athletics. And because of that, I've been able to travel around the world, whether it be through television shows or professional athletics, I've always kind of been a mercenary. My goal in life was always to find the biggest challenge and get a paycheck attached to it. So that means like, sometimes I would just get contacted and they're like, Hunter, there's a television show with a$100 ,000 cash prize. Like, can you beat these guys? Or it's like Hunter McIntyre, like there's, you know, they're giving out wild cards to the CrossFit games.

2:06No one's ever been invited. Do you want to try to see if you can get invited? Boom, I get invited. Through that entire lifestyle, I've won 10 world titles. I've won three of them in High Rocks, which is a very popular sport now, so I guess that's more relevant to talk about. I've set many world records like Murph and many world records in high rocks, both in doubles and solos. And my life has just been crazy, man. Like I never really was destined to be an athlete. I kind of just created it as I went. And then the really interesting thing that's happened to me in the past five years was COVID shut down this life where us as athletes, we used our bodies to make money.

2:47that disappeared overnight. So I started businesses and now I'm a businessman and I have employees and I travel around the world with people who work with me. I don't like to say work for me. They work with me. There's people who I work with. They're probably better than me at everything that I do, which I'm lucky to have them alongside of me. So I'm very multidimensional. And I think that's been the greatest asset that I've ever had is that I've never allowed myself to just stay in a lane for too long because I think that also that even though it may make you excellent it makes you sometimes lazy and a little bit soft because as soon as you get out of your lane you you got wobbly feet and I've just been very dynamic and wild so hopefully that's a good introduction to who I am definitely is where did the desire to become the best that whatever you do come from and where did it start I think one of the biggest reasons why I became so good at things that I was trying to achieve in was I had three older brothers and it was very, not in an oppressive way, but it was very difficult to be substantiated in a room when you're the smallest person.

3:51Like my older, oldest brother was 10 years older than me. So that might as well have been like, he was a hundred years older than me. He was a fucking Titan compared to me when I was younger. So I had to be very aggressive in my strategies all the time. And then what really kicked everything into like turbo mode was that I got into a lot of trouble when I was in high school, had to go to, was arrested many times, had to go to rehab for a year. And when I got out of rehab, I went to college for the first time and you're surrounded with everybody and everyone's trying to discover who they are. And I was like, am I a jock?

4:23Am I a party boy? Am I this or that? And I very quickly learned that like the world now when you're, now that you're like gone from your parents, like nobody's here to take care of you. There's no handouts. I mean, there are handouts nowadays and that's a longer conversation for different times but there weren't a lot of handouts you had to really create your own purpose and reason to be in the room otherwise people weren't going to really pay attention to you and I was like I got to get good at something otherwise I'm just going to be kind of left to the side so I kind of discovered myself and my physical body like took over very quickly like I became dominant and people were like damn dude you're good and I'll admit like in a selfish way like I fucking loved it I was very vain like you know when you're a young guy and someone sees your six-pack they're like damn you're like fuck yeah and it just became this thing where it was like I was addicted to drugs and then I became addicted to this and then rather than becoming addicted and being in like the mouth of the dragon I got on its back and I was riding the dragon I was in fucking control now and that's a very hard transition to make because once you're in the mouth of this dragon of heroin, ecstasy, alcohol, pussy, like everything that is a vice for a man, I couldn't get out.

5:38And it was, I just somehow wrangled myself in this opportunity through my physical body to become an athlete, a macho man. And it changed everything. They say that you need like a really low, low to make you realize, yeah that shit's bad what was that point for you uh probably the lowest low for me was a day where i decided to inject black tar heroin and when you look at black tar heroin is black is black like this microphone and it's like kind of a mixture of like brownish black and it was going through a needle into my arm being compressed through a needle and it was coming into my body and I could just feel the energy of wrong.

6:23This is wrong. But by the time the needle had completely compressed into itself, the high hit within seconds later. It felt like I was sliding into a hot tub. The high came from the bottom of my feet up through my knees and through the rest of my body. And by the time I was fully soaked in this high, it was unlike anything else. And in the middle of the high, I was throwing up all over the house. I was seeing rainbows. I was so high while throwing up, which is a crazy thing to think of. and the person who was my boss who is basically the version of my like sponsor in AA walked into the house my friends let him into the house while I was high as fuck on the couch and I somehow convinced him that I was sick and I like threw up in front of him and through my hands it was just a mess and if he decided to go to my program officer who is the person who is basically the steward of my title at that point.

7:19Like if he decided to hand me back to the court system, I would have gone to jail. I somehow didn't get in trouble. He didn't tell on me. I don't know if I somehow convinced him I wasn't on drugs or he was just like, this guy's so fucked up. I feel bad for him. I'm not going to rat on him. But it was this miracle because I was on the verge of going to jail. Like I had already been kicked out of three rehabs and like to go to jail at that age and just like really encounter fully that my life of somewhat freedom was going to be fully given away and I'd be behind bars was just such a terrifying thought for especially for somebody like me who doesn't deal well with authority doesn't deal well with sitting in the place for a long time like can you imagine being in solitary confinement like I just was like fuck it was a panic and right then and there I decided to tattoo a trident on my back the next day.

8:13So is that where the trident came from? Yeah. I don't usually tell this story very often because it's just a bizarre story to tell. They're like, what's the trident for? I was like, I like Neptune. Um, I sat on the couch with myself, just like freaking out after that, just like on the hangover of that high. And I was like, what is the only thing you've ever thought about in your entire life that could potentially be motivating for you to get out of this place? because I couldn't control my urges for drugs and bad behavior. Like if I saw a window, I had to grab a rock and throw it through it. Like I needed these swings of energy and feelings.

8:47So I sat there with myself and I was like, um. And I remembered in wrestling camps because I was an athlete when I was younger. In wrestling camps, there would be Navy SEALs sitting in these like little tables trying to recruit young men. Being like, do you want to be a super soldier and jump out of planes with bazookas? and I was like fuck yeah I do that would be insane and I was like okay Hunter we can do this you can get out of this you will become a Navy SEAL so instead of just like saying it I was like I'm going to tattoo this to my fucking back like it has to be such a substantial promise that I can never turn my back on it literally I inked it into my back in a way that is permanent for the rest of my life and by the time I got out of rehab and I got to college, I tried to apply and they kicked me out right away.

9:38So it got me out of my bad position, but I never really got to follow through. But that truly was my lowest moment. And it was such a reflection point where anytime I close my eyes, I will start running right now to get away from that place. That's some story. That's a fucked up story. No, it is. So from there, you then obviously get into working on yourself, working on your body, getting fitter, getting stronger. Yeah. Was it modeling? Yeah. First came about? Super random. So this finger right here was the reason why I got into modeling. I was training to get into on the wrestling team. I was on academic probation because I had fucked up so much and they weren't letting me wrestle.

10:24And I don't really understand the reason why, but it just was the case. So the first semester I couldn't wrestle. second semester I was going to try to wrestle 165 and I was already above 200 so I was just pumping iron and like I was just learning about nutrition I bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's book bodybuilding you know I was just going after it and I was getting fucking shredded dude I was just like so lean so diced I was doing everything I could to create striation shape bulges and also get super fit for wrestling and you know I was my own little version of a stud like 10 % of the man I am today, but I look good with my shirt off.

11:03I jumped out of my, um, I jumped out of my bedroom in my underpants, basically at a house party that we had at our house. And this guy looked at me in the face. He's like, you should be a model. And I was like, fuck yeah, I should be a model. And I didn't think anything of it. I thought we were just drunk and riffing. And next thing you know, I get, I was on a runway in Providence, Rhode Island the next week. and then all of a sudden that summer I went down to Miami and I got signed with an agency and then I was over in Europe working with another agency and then I was working with Abercrombie & Fitch and then I was on another campaign then I was moving to New York City and becoming a high fashion model there and if I'm being totally honest I was awful at it because I didn't really care about taking pictures I just cared about this high again that I'm kind of talking about it was another version of validation and admittedly it kind of dragged me deeper into drugs because the world of modeling, at least the world that I was spending time in, and I'm not saying blanket statement about modeling, but more so where I was at, we had very easy access to drugs and I did more and more and all my job was at the time was to just be ripped and to be, get fucked up.

12:20And I got fucked up, but you didn't have to get fucked up, but like I wanted to. I wanted the free nightclub tables and everything that came with the position. And I was good at it, man. Like the same endurance that I have for sport right now totally applied to doing drugs and alcohol. Like I could bury anybody. And I could just outlast and I was crazy. The same surges you see me do in sport, dude, was you'd see me at the table. Like if we were just sitting there with a lull, I would just grab the bottle, uncork that top that they used to slowly pour it out and I would just start chugging. Because I was like, what the fuck are we doing?

12:55we need to pick it up like and it would just be those moments and it was just a wild wild period about a year and a half of my life where it just was uncontrollable high fashion stupidity yeah that's uh that's crazy but we could see do you think having that skill set and having obviously your physical abilities as well you could be a great ultra runner probably you know i really was inspired when I watched this last soul thing yeah because I've won 24 hour world titles in back in the obstacle course racing days so I thought to myself I was like damn man I went on like multi-day benders and I don't ever stop moving if you watch me like obviously like we intentionally are very restful when it comes to training like we try to stay off our feet for the intention of being restful but if it comes to a day where I'm not training and like I'm kind of an off season dude I'm just up moving chopping wood picking things up fidgeting around like I never run out of energy and I also don't sleep very much that's one thing that I've had so many professionals come to me and be like if we could just change your sleeping and I was like dude ever since I was a child I don't sleep even now as a man I don't sleep and it doesn't affect anything what is your sleep schedule dude it could be anywhere from like as early as 8 30 but like that's uncommon but the average time is 9 30 to 4 you're put for 9 30 to 4 or 10 to 4 like yesterday I woke up but to this morning I woke up at 3 and then I closed my eyes again back to 4 30 but like I wake up and my body's like go and I have to beg myself to just like go back to sleep because I know that to an end to some degree that it's better to get a couple extra hours but like some people I know are literally pounding out like these eight to nine to ten hour nights and like you hear about these olympians that are doing that and i'm like with what capability like how like what are they doing and i i buy the eye masks i get like the the mouth tape the nose tape the blackout sheets the chili pad to sleep just doesn't change like it doesn't change anything do you think you're built different because the science does say that more sleep is better and like when you do speak to like these top tier athletes they're saying they're sleeping in in the morning they're sleeping until 8 a.m 9 a.m or whatever and then they're only doing the session first session kind of like mid early morning and then the second session later on i know everyone's different but uh like a lot of athletes that i spoke to said they don't sacrifice their sleep i guess just it's like a listen i'm not gonna try to pretend like i've done sleep studies and been there getting into this like deep, deep, you know, research.

15:47But my father has never slept. And genetically I may just be more aligned with him. My brother Garrett sleeps a bit more than me. My mom sleeps a bunch. And that's just it. I mean like I don't know what to say other than the fact that this like – I remember like waking up when I was younger and my grandfather would always be up so early and I would wake up and I would get to the table and it would be pitch black and it would just be us. My grandfather doesn't talk a lot. So it would just be strange just sitting there just like, fuck. And he would just look at his paper and I'd have nothing to do.

16:18And that made such a deep impact on me because I would remember that. And I was like, even when I was younger, I remember my mother would scold me because she'd catch me in the middle of the night just playing with magic cards, sorting all of my things, like deeply analytically overanalyzing things. And I'd be up the next day at 5 a.m. out of bed even if I went to bed at 2. so the reality is is like i just might be different and like i can say based off my results it's been effective if i look at everything that i do with my career am i going to try to gain an extra hour of sleep to get more seconds off my race time probably not yeah moving on to you then went into like tough mudder right yeah i mean spartan race tough mudder all that kind of stuff all the or the kind of like OTR stuff and then High Rocks.

17:07Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Why? Why what? I mean, you're going to have to give me some definition here. Which one? Why did you go into them sports? Why didn't you pick probably at the time like more popular sports, should I say? Because back then like you couldn't make a living. You knew that you couldn't make a living out of being the best. Yeah. I mean, listen, it was a total freak chance. I was living here in Malibu at the time at 2011 with a couple of my friends and I had quit the small attempt at being a male model and I was working on being a personal trainer. One of my friends randomly called me at the time.

17:40He was like, we're moving to Malibu and we're going to get rich and famous. So I just followed off his coattails and lived at his house. Totally random. If he hadn't called me, I wouldn't be out here. So thank you, Mo. When I was out here, within a couple months of being here, we went and did a Spartan race and I did really well. If it wasn't for the fact that I went on a website called active.com, I never would have stumbled into it. I was bodybuilding at the time and mountain running. Like I was trying to get ripped, add to my bench, my squat, my deadlift, and my biceps. And I was just running up and down these hills.

18:16But other than that, like nothing was specific. Like nothing was intentional. And then I came sixth place out of 10 ,000 people. and then I like went home and kind of like percolated on it and I was like what do I do and I was like what the fuck is Spartan Race like what is that so I just was like okay never mind but then a couple months later it just like kind of hit me and I was like I think I can be really good at that if I try and I started typing into YouTube and I started to see that like they were having championships and like you could win money there was a$10 ,000 cash prize and I was like yeah I'm gonna do that like I'm going to win that I'm not I didn't think at all like Hunter you should go back like I was going I'm like who's the world champion I immediately googled his name Hobie Call I was like I'm gonna beat that dude the next race I went to I was leading the race next to Hobie Call the whole way through and then I stepped in some mud and my shoe got stuck in it and I had to stop the race and they kept on going and I eventually came in third place and then like a month or so later I got a call from the CEO basically he was like do you want to fly down to Mexico and race for us so it was a freak accident that I did it and then a random urge to want to beat some random guy on the internet much like you probably found high rocks you probably looked me up and you're like I want to beat that guy it's just like a young man thing to do he's big and tough I want to beat him and being that these sports are so interesting that we can all be on the same playing field like your first day of ever doing a high rocks, you can run right next to me.

19:50And I was a world champion. Like that's pretty cool. Same thing for, I guess, marathon in its own unique way. But like in triathlon, like you can stand on the same ground as a world champion and it's an even playing field. So I didn't think like, oh, I have to qualify for the Olympics or this or that and like have to jump through all of these hoops to potentially be the best. I was like, I just need to find out where he's going and show up next to him and run like hell. so that was encouraging to me because I'm not the kind of person who likes to dig through a lot of details especially back in the day I was just rambunctious but it was a three-month arc of just like do a race go home forget about it think I could do it race against the guy and then a month later I had a sponsorship and my life changed like I was a fully paid for man within 90 days of starting who was that first sponsor I guess I would technically say it was Spartan race that started paying me.

20:45And then shortly thereafter, Reebok was, I remember I went to Vegas Spartan race in 2012 and there was a guy named Patrick. I hope you see this someday, Patrick. He kind of just stood up at the table and he's like, we're really looking forward to sponsoring athletes, you know, such as you Hunter. And he like looked at me and said that. And I was like, am I about to get sponsored by Reebok? And I had a contract and it was crazy. Like it was so crazy to me that I was about to get paid to run and I was a 22 year old like degenerate and I was like what and like shortly thereafter like I had a dumb sponsor with rock tape no offense to you rock tape and like I just like I had these like sponsorships that at the time were so like nickel and dime and jokey but like I needed the money so like we were just doing it I'm sure maybe I don't know what was your first ever sponsor?

21:36first ever sponsor? who represent that's an incredible first sponsor you're lucky but like you know you could have been like sponsored by a teabag company like it's just like you know when you're first getting started like you're in a great position yeah you'll take everything yeah yeah you're just like fuck alright how many teabags are you gonna give me and how much money? you're just like kind of begging for a chance because all you need is like another gallon in the car to go a little further down the road till you get your big break And, you know, eventually I got my big break, but it was not easy.

22:08Like I was broke living with like a bunch of guys and houses, living free at people's houses for a long time. How did you end up here in Malibu at the top of a hill? Well, originally there was this guy named Mo, whose name we nicknamed him Modini. He was very mysterious and very wealthy. And he had made his money through stock trading and we didn't know it. He originally brought me out here. and then Malibu is one of these kind of places where everybody's rich and famous but they don't portray that to you like I don't look like a rich and famous person I've got short shorts on and a baggy beachy hoodie and stuff like that but you wouldn't know unless you knock them over like that guy's a 10 time world champion like you know people don't wear it on their collars saying who they are but everybody here is somebody it's insane and so it only took such a little time to like being here to be like introduced into just different circles.

23:00And the next thing you know, you get invited to a house party, which I got invited to here. And I met these people and I was like, I've never seen power and wealth like this before. Like I want to learn. So I connected with them and I just, I kept on just getting tighter with them and learning from them. And you just keep on wanting to be curious about how someone got there. Like Laird Hamilton's my neighbor and he's always been such a kind guy to me. And you just sit down, you just ask him a couple of questions every time you see them. And they just kind of give you little, tidbits of information to breadcrumb you along the way to teach you about lessons of life.

23:32And I'll never forget, Rick Rubin, the famous music producer, taught me how to do an upside down kettlebell press, like oddly enough. And these people aren't here to just stay away from you. Like they'll help you if you show up. But it's like a very peculiar community in the way that it's like you were telling me about the peculiar aspects of Hollywood. Malibu has its own thing. You know, people who are this famous and this rich have gotten here for their odd reasons. And I was patient. I just wanted to be the guy working out. And eventually I just was so fit. People are always started to ask me questions.

24:07They're like, well, that's really cool. Like, I'm glad I told you this, but tell me about your race. Tell me about that crazy thing you just did. So it became this kind of thing where I became this like token fit guy where like everyone here has six packs and tries to be fit in California, but you know a lot of them are fake fit. And I'm just a fucking monster. So they're like, dude, tell me a story. Eventually, I would sit down at these tables of people at big steakhouses or Nobu, and they'd be asking me stories, even though they're a CEO of a massive business, because they're just like, you did what last weekend?

24:37And I was like, yeah. I was in the Arctic Circle doing a cross-country skiing race, and I nearly died. And they're like, what? And they were just sitting in a boardroom, all boring, even though they're worth$100 million. dollars so it was a good fit I became a curiosity for people and I was good at telling stories so I think I just fit in and eventually you're here long enough that people start to trust you and they're like oh Hunter's not just some knucklehead athlete guy like he's a good guy and I've been here so long and I've worked my way up the chain that like now I'm a real Malibu dude I'm not just like a part-timer and it's a great community once you get into the depths of it do you think you'll always live here i will say i mean as long as the fires don't push me out which they've tried many times i will always have a footprint in malibu i mean it built who i am so i can never really turn my back on it so yeah i'll always have something here yeah it's a sick little place so nice so chill so relaxed so much different to la which is obviously only just like 40 minutes down the road you're always welcome my friend no no it's good so moving on to high rocks when did you get into high rocks when did that come around so i competed i was on my way to compete at the 2019 crossfit games and in 2018 the very end of 2018 i had coffee a guy named paul paul budge introduced me through email to the owner of high rocks and high rocks at the point that point in time might as well have been like it was just started out it might as well have been like a taco truck like it was not even a real business and no offense like it's just a startup yeah and they maybe had a couple like truly two and they had like a one race and then they just immediately proclaimed like a world title race and you know i think um lucas storath had won it and like he came we had this coffee meeting and he showed up in a ridiculous suit with a brilliantly bright chain bracelet that said daddy on it and like a very tight Italian tie.

26:46And I was like, who the fuck is this guy? Like, this is the craziest person I'd ever met that was in the endurance world. Cause all the owners, you look like Greg Glassman and Joe DeSena, the owners of these, like these emerging sports and endurance and like kind of hybrid shit. They don't look like this. This guy looked out of, out of nowhere, like very odd. So I was enamored by him, but I just was like, dude, I've got too much going on, man. I hope to see you around, but I just kept my distance. And by the time I did show up, I competed in the CrossFit Games in August. I competed for the first time in December in Miami with them in 2019.

27:21And I showed up and I mopped the field. And I think I had like a 10 minute slide push, like something crazy. And I had picked trail shoes thinking it would be helpful, but like I could not push the turf. It was just sliding. And these sleds and the turf back then were like, it was just quicksand. Like it was just such a brutal experience. And once I had done that, like it was so hard, it got me. Like I immediately got bit by the bug. And I just was like, I'm going to keep up at this thing. And then COVID hit right away. And, you know, I built this relationship with the owner right away where like we were just trying to figure out ways to keep this ball up in the air and like when I tell you guys that this thing was a fucking sinking I mean like they had an office in New York then they had to shut down the office in New York like they were trying to get this venue here and then it just wouldn't work out like we were going to races and there'd be like 400 people there like it was crickets and like I was begging like for them I was working on behalf of just like as this liaison for athletes begging athletes to come and compete against me like come come come come on guys let's go and I'd be get some crossfitters I get some hybrid guys and like we were doing all these gimmicky things like the elite eight and like the invitational like two athletes versus hunter like we were trying everything like we would have events like there's this guy named Adam von Rothfelder who had this company called strong coffee and at the 2021 national championships like there was so little cash prize that we put like a headhunter fee on top of me like we were trying everything to get some attention and it was really bad to start I mean like it was great but like it was not promising so I mean where we're at right now is a blessing dude it's it might as well be like a scratch-off ticket story it's like imagine you're just a bum your whole life and nothing's working out and then one day after 20 years of doing scratch-offs you walk in and you just rip like a$10 million ticket.

29:30That's what this is. Like it's so random that this worked out because nobody gave a shit about this sport for like the first five years. Yeah. I remember first watching you when you broke the world record in Barcelona. It was. And I watched you and witnessed that race and it was just insane how ahead of the field you were. Yeah. I think you got a 53 minute there. I think it was 54 or something, but it was low 54. I was like 54.13 or something like that. And it was a great time because it was just like so rogue. I also was not trying at all. And now it's like I'm trying very hard and like it seems to be like I'm like standing still.

30:10Except for this last year I felt like I started to come back up again. But it was like crazy. Like back then it just felt to just be something that was like a part of me. But now like Hyrox is so all-encompassing especially with like the new schedule. Like it's, you can't just be a part-time pro athlete now. Like you have to sell your soul because obviously it's, it's an honor to be this level, but it's also like, if you want to show up, like there's other dogs that are going to eat you out of your spot. If you don't show up and show up hard. Would you say over the years, you've got more and more serious and more and more kind of like locked in with training?

30:45I mean, I was always really locked in with training. I think the only time I maybe lacked with training was like kind of like during that COVID era where we kind of allowed ourselves to just, fuck around, drink a little bit more, take some longer time. But I mean, especially when I was doing Spartan race, man, like there was no time to mess around. Like I was racing against literally like Olympic medalists, world champions, really, really talented athletes. And it was no mercy. And the races were so much longer and so much harder based on just the duration that like, like the sandbag carry took one of my friends one year 39 minutes like that's more than 20 times the length of my sled push this year that's insane and like so we weren't messing around but i think i think now if i really had to like think deeply on it it's kind of messed up because like the level that social media and like the attention to detail has almost like put more pressure on our results it's changed the way that i experience it is probably the best way i can put it yeah i get that a little bit do you get affected by what other people put out online about their training um not really obviously everyone in the elite 15 seems to be training differently differently i don't think a lot of people know what they're doing and i think a lot of people would point fingers and be like hunter doesn't know what he's doing you know what though i'd argue on your behalf like i've seen you every time i've met you you're so well researched someone just really needs to go and watch your podcast and go on youtube uh go on your podcast because the amount of research that you do on every successful athlete there's ever been within any sport you've researched them and you've read all the books and you're so much cleverer this is a compliment by the way so much cleverer than you come across because you come across as this guy that's super macho, super confident, but you back it up and you back it up with the knowledge.

32:50I think it's really interesting that I think people want to be absorbed by the way that they feel about their training and they want to ignore realities to feel more confident in their reality. Like I've been saying this for a long time that I think people eat away. Like you need to have this massive variance in training. Like I just listened to, you know, the Calibo guy who won all the Olympic gold medals in the Winter Olympics for cross-country skiing. Oh, yes. Is this the guy that trains five days on, two days off? No, that's an ice skater. This guy just won. He became the most winningest Winter Olympic athlete in history, and he's a Norway athlete.

33:28And he trains 88 % of his time actually in Zone 1 because they did so much studying that they found out that if you start to get up into Zone 2, it cannibalizes so much of your fast-twitch muscle fibers that it actually gets in the way of his high performance. And I've been trying to say that for years about the way that we go in and out of, you're using fast twitch explosive muscle fibers to do something like wall balls and sled pushes and burpees and stuff like that. And people don't get it. And they just want to get into that zone of threshold all the time. And I say it and people are like, double threshold.

33:59And I was like, okay, I don't need to keep on bragging about my ideas because I'm going to let you just sink deeper into your own quicksand. But for me, I think research has been one of these kind of things that just makes me fall more in love with the process. Like I just try to hire a new coach because I want to fall more in love with the questioning his process even to substantiate my process more. And I'm always willing to hire a new coach. Like the coach I hired this year is probably the most Yoda level person I've met in my entire life. And I fucking, he would talk to me and say things and I would just be jaw dropped.

34:32And I'm like, I understand almost nothing you're saying, but I will sit by your side in fire, rain, windstorm, whatever to hear more. and it is to me like that's my version of a pilgrimage like I will travel far and wide to get to those levels of information because that's my level of obsession and that's what I think aligns me with greatness that I eventually have when the results do show up yeah so what's your opinion on training for high rocks like how would you go about it for like I said the the top athletes I think that most of the athletes that I'm seeing right now spend so much time chucking around 20 pound wall balls and basically look like a 20 pound wall ball.

35:12Like you're just a weak, whimsical version of a person. Like a 20 pound wall ball, I don't think anybody's ever looked at and be like, that's intimidating. But it's only intimidating because it's the end of a massively long race. So you either need to work endurance massively to a humongous extent to the point where what you're doing is basically a fraction of your capabilities. And then you need to work intensities in the same exact way. So why throw a 20 pound one ball when you should be really throwing like a 30 and building the same muscle powders and intensities at a higher level because you have the capacity, which you need to ultimately build.

35:46And it's what I call is bookend training. It's like, you need to be massively strong and massively fit. And then what happens between should be ultimately successful because you're so strong on each side. And like, there's some girl who just like got into high rock. She won the age group world championship and she's like a cross country runner and she almost did none of the cross country move like the high rocks movements and she just dominated because she's so fit and that lissa girl is very similar she hasn't even had the time to train like we do like if we've been doing wall balls for five years we should be better than her guess what she mopped the field because she is so fit her her brick over here like this big brick wall of running capabilities is like the fucking great wall of china compared to anybody else in the sport where like most of these girls are like little white picket fences.

36:33They're just not that developed. And I think so many people just try to fucking be everywhere rather than somewhere really well. And I own a coaching program where we coach thousands of athletes and it's so difficult to tell these people this because they just want to feel validated and more sweaty and just fucking dig their shitty bodies into the turf more and just grind into a sled. and I was like, we should probably just work on your back squat because you'll be a lot stronger and not always feel so exhausted by the time you push this leg because your legs are actually finally tough. But you say that and they're like, nah.

37:09And it's crazy. So, I mean, like I know I just got on a bit of a tangent, but I just don't even think people have the bandwidth to even understand what I'm starting to say. So almost you have to just like sit there and like lie to people the same way, you know, you lie to your child about Santa Claus. like those trees under the table Christmas tree you're like that's from Santa you know and you play this little game with them and you know ultimately if you told them the truth they would just be kind of crushed it's like I ride my bike 15 hours a week in the off season and they're like why don't you do more ski erg I'm like because it doesn't matter if I skied for 10 hours a week have you ever done much ski erg because you're the by far one of the strongest in the field at the ski erg have you ever done a lot of it?

37:55It doesn't matter dude if I did 10 hours a week on the skier I'd maybe move the needle by three seconds per 500 and why does that matter where if I worked on my sled push this year and I dropped a 139 four sled lengths unbroken if I had to really think about the the execution of it was probably not that smart I could have taken some breaks and it would have helped me out back and I didn't have to carry the fatigue through the whole race but I learned that lesson and that instead of like a 220 sled push i could have done like a maybe a a 150 and save that extra 10 seconds and that's a 30 second variance rather than a five to six second and those kind of things that people just don't get it it's like you got to learn where to make your move and what to invest your time in and i think a lot of people it's like why focus on skier people like you're form shitty i'm like i don't care like what does that matter like i just am using i'm getting through it and like i don't think me working on my skier form massively is going to change anything because it never has when you look at yourself and the rest of the elite 15 the one thing that i notice is you're a lot bigger yeah do you think that's the way to go or do you think that's just yourself whereas i feel like the rest of the pack they're actually getting smaller it almost seems like i mean listen dude everybody's gonna have different kinds of skills like and it's gonna help them like you think about somebody like a luke greer like that guy is a beanpole he doesn't fill a shirt out well um not a lot of people are gonna chase him at a nightclub but he runs like i ran next to him world championships and i was like oh fuck okay there he goes he's so relaxed when he runs yeah that's what i'm saying like it was very much like he just was like almost like a yo-yo he just like kind of threw it out there when he decided to want to make a move and i was like yeah that's his thing but then i saw him in other places and he just folded and he doesn't have to be me and I don't have to be him.

39:51So the thing is, is like, yeah, if you're like a 10 year professional runner, use that strength for sure. But don't ignore the fact that you're going to have to get stronger. Like I'm sure he's working on wall balls and strength right now. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. If he's not, it'd be dumb. But you know, if I look at somebody like middle of the road, like you, like you've clearly worked your marathon so well, like that's going to be in your tank forever because you're now it's like a 220 marathoner but you know you you probably have some things you can work on yeah strength being one yeah exactly and if your people and your team are not being honest with you you know when i sat down with my coach he was so honest with me he's like we're not going to do almost any really hard running doesn't matter for you and i was like really like i wanted to go to the track so bad he's like no we're just going to take a hundred pound wall ball and you're going to do it for five minutes every single day twice a day for the next two months and we had some other things working on there but i remember him telling me that and i was like that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard how heavy 100 pounds 100 pounds so so five times the size of the bowl yeah that we use 45 kg weight yeah and it fucking paid off dude i was a titan i was a freakish titan and he just did max reps for five minutes and i got up to i think 65 five and so just over 10 a minute and to me I thought it was really dumb and I had to like go through this like emotional phase of being like I fucking hate this guy he doesn't know what he's talking about to like the aha moment when it hit and like a really good coach can do that and like even the reason why I hire coaches is because I will pick the comfortable lane like I'm a hard man but like we all have our versions of like wanting to pick the easy route and we will and sometimes someone needs to look at you and tell you raw it's like hey man like drop the shoes like we need to keep you in the gym you know put away the carbons and that might be your thing man you need people to be able to hold you accountable and he really helped me out so thank you coach cal but um i think that the this is an emerging sport but strength and conditioning is not new like if you guys really want to learn about strength and conditioning, go buy one of the Soviet training, like, like manuals from like 1970.

42:10And it will teach you more than any, like these six pack fuck boys on the internet. And I think the thing is, is like, did you have like 600 ,000 followers? I respect everything you do, but I would go to that manual before you every single time. No offense. No, I would as well. But it's one of these kinds of things where it's like, you've been like, these are the most substantial bits of information out there. And I think people don't want to just pick it up. They're like, I'd rather just scroll on my phone and see what an inspiring person did. And that's part of the puzzle. But the reality is you can't avoid the truth that's inside of those books that are all littered all over my house.

42:48Yeah. It's so interesting that when you look back in their books and you see all the things that are coming into fashion now were done in the 70s. There is heat training, things like that. I hate that term. And all that stuff. it was all done back then plyometrics everyone's kind of like reinvented the wheel yeah these people wanted to win really really bad like the most the people that are doing the doping and things like that they used every method to their capability that maxed out their potential and then they started doping and the people that did that the best were the Soviets and the eastern bloc countries they cheated like fucking crazy but before that they learned everything they could about the physical capacity of the human body that was allowed through just its own potential before enhanced potential, and they went all in.

43:39That's crazy. Yeah. What about, obviously, this season, this last World Champs? Yeah. Now that you've had a couple of months to kind of think about it and stuff like that, what's your feelings on it? It was really hard, dude. Like, if I'm being honest with you, like, I closed my brain off to that for months. like literally for two months. The other night, if I'm being real with you, this would be like odd for a lot of people to hear, but I ended up having to eat a lot of mushrooms and sit right out here and completely unpack it because I was ignoring it for such a long time. And I've used things like this for my whole career to just go on these versions of like a journey in your mind.

44:23And it was a real battle. Like I was really ignoring it because in my mind, and a lot of people may disagree with this or you may support it. That's not my world to live in because I have to live with myself and my decisions. The ultimate outcome that I came with is that, yes, I felt things were unfairly done upon me. But my biggest problem was that if I'm really going to be the Hunter McIntyre that I believe that I am, as I can leave no wiggle room for doubt, even with the biggest hater with a microscope on me. And I had one of those on my back the whole race. It was very hard to deal with in the race.

45:05I was literally talking to her for such a large portion of the race. Like clock time, it was well over 30 seconds of me just talking to this woman while trying to go max effort and just like figure out why she was doing what she was doing. And I came out of that with like a lot of hate for the whole sport's inability to just do their job. And I never got into sport to pick fights with the people who created the sport, the judges. I just want to be an athlete. And that's where I was like, as I said, it was very difficult for me because I didn't feel like I got to have that on that day. But ultimately my outcome was that I am better than those results.

45:52Like I'm not defined as a fifth place guy. Like I came out there with such incredible fitness and such incredible shape. And that to me is the most beautiful thing. I painted a masterpiece and just because it didn't get all the lighting to be seen fully, like I can't be upset. Like part of the journey is painting the masterpiece. It's not unveiling it. And for me, I'm in love with the process of being an athlete. I think everybody who's watching this as an athlete has to live from that place first because there's no paycheck that's ever defined me in reality the money will be spent there's no sponsor that's ever defined me but if you go into most rooms and ask about hunter mcintyre they're not like oh hunter mcintyre the puma athlete or hunter mcintyre the high rocks athlete like that's a hard motherfucking man that's because that's who i am that's a i live as and like that's what i will continue to be when these races end for me.

46:49So as long as I continue to move forward from that place, I always win. Because that's ultimately what I choose every single day, regardless of the finish line or wherever I finish. In that race, you led for the majority of the race. Yeah. And it was iconic. You was there, like, you're one bigger, stronger than everyone else, running at the front. And I think the whole High Rocks world were like, fuck yeah, hunts his back. Yeah, that was rough, dude. I appreciate you saying that. I mean, the reality is, man, it's like that was me. I was on that wave that I talk about a lot. When you come into full alignment as an athlete, you're ultimately riding a wave.

47:31You are in this level of a zone where there's no resistance and you're able to play with it. That's what surfing is. Once you get up on the wave, you're just playing with the energy and you're traveling forward and you're able to just show who you are through this free energy propelling you forward. At no point in time did I feel like I was really hurting. Where the disruption came in is someone was just talking to me and saying, eh, eh. And I was just like, whoa, dude, I'm on my way. And I was like, eh. And I was like, holy shit. But that's what we're really all looking for. I think if you watch almost all of these people, like the Josh Kerr winning the mile, you knew he was in that flow state because you're like how is he going so fast it's like well he's not fighting it he's flowing through it he's moving through time and space in a way that the body has never really been able to reach before but that's what a world record looks like that's what a world title looks like is somebody who's able to move through time and space as an athlete in a way that's never been seen before it's this free collection of energy of everything around you everything that's inside of you and it's all in sync in time how'd you harness that i mean i think it's it's like a four-leaf clover like you can't really ask for it and it shows up that's why like admittedly josh don't be insulted by this i didn't think he was going to get it because i think it's so rare to make a statement and actually have it happen on the day that you say it's going to happen on that's what's so beautiful when it does show up because the reality is, is that I'm assuming every single clover has the potential of being a four leaf clover, but it's only when it, this one moment in time where the gene fully unlocks itself, where all four petals pop.

49:16So we all have it with inside of us ultimately. But the thing is, is that, you know, you have to be strong and prepared for when it's time to shine. That's what we all have to do as athletes, but we can't ever fully promise ourselves when that day is going to show up. We ask for it. We want it. We dream of it. We anxiously pray. But I've been there so many times that it's not always there. I've only really had that moment happen in my life probably two, three times. And like maybe 2023 World Championships was there. That was Manchester. Yeah. It was crazy watching. I was there watching you like, you know, you was putting your arms up in the air.

49:56And you know you're in that state. Like I didn't have to think about that. my body naturally was doing that and there's all of these things where I'm sure you've watched like like a you ever seen a car guitar solo like these people didn't practice this they are just in free flow like I was watching Prince the other day at this guitar solo and when he's this song my guitar gently weeps and he was playing and you could tell that he'd not predicted anything in front of him it was just coming through him and all of us at these expert levels have this state and that's why it's so cool to witness it and that's why I think sports so awesome because it's one of the very few physical arts where you can see the masterpiece unfold in front of you and like that's why I'm still in it I'm 37 years old I've won enough world titles if I was not getting better I would stop but I that day I felt it I was like this is it that's that that perfect wave I'm on it right now so god damn man like if you guys are watching this and you have these ambitions like I pray that you get that wave you catch your wave someday because it's excellent once you're in it what gives you the confidence I was having a really interesting conversation with somebody who is a really big person I've looked up for many years today and he was asking why I was ready for the project that we've just been filming recently.

51:21And I said to him is that I always envision the person at the end. I never envisioned the person at the beginning or the middle, because those are not what you want to be. Like when you begin a journey, you're never fully proud of yourself because you're like, you're hoping to become this. I want to be a world champion because at the start line, you're not a world champion. You're hoping to be in the middle of the race. You're not a world champion. You're hoping to be. I visualize entirely. And I work so heavily on it to envision what I ultimately know I can become, that four-leaf clover, that unlocked power that we all have within us.

51:56I'm like, why would I ever dream and just accept the fact of being a three-leaf clover when I know that I have the potential of four? So I close my eyes and I see it. I visualize it. I live it every single day with prayers, statements. I mean, every single night, dude for thousands of days I have closed my eyes and I've said a prayer I really have and I just I don't say a prayer like I hope to be a world champion I'm like God I'm so grateful that you gave me this this opportunity and I'm gonna ride the fuck out of it tomorrow and I'm just grateful that my legs are healthy my mind is healthy and I'm just gonna show up man and if I get it I'm grateful but thanks for giving me the chance every night in some way shape or form and like if you live in that place ultimately you're never going to lose because you're living in a level of half glass full kind of thing optimism but for me maybe god just gave me a little extra juju because i usually make it happen it just fucking happens dude i've heard uh i remember having a conversation with you and sometimes you use kind of like alter egos uh to your power and you kind of like create characters for yourself.

53:05Yeah. What about it? Do you think that gives you like a bigger confidence? Or do you think that's just something to keep you not bored? I mean, it's a mixture of it, but if you, do you see the Hulk Hogan documentary? No, no. It's amazing. It's good. You have to watch, dude, because, I mean, you watch that and basically he's a Broadway guy. Like, he's somebody who's up on stage, but when you watch it, You watch him take over the world through the capability of capturing people's minds and getting them to believe in something that's not truly real. And that's very similar for my position. His name is Terry, but everyone in the world knows him as Hulk Hogan.

53:51I'm just Hunter, but I'm not just Hunter. I'm fucking Hunter McIntyre. And every time I say it, it hits with gusto, like a bunch of fists. Like I don't drive regular cars. I drive cars with fucking huge engines that are allowed. Because every time I step into something, I want to step into the belief that I am something so much more than just a regular person. And I'm not doing it because I feel lame. I do it because I believe. And Terry made the whole world believe that he was Hulk Hogan, the biggest and baddest man on the planet. And when you watch this, just a basic-ass man taking over the planet, which he did.

54:33It's a very similar situation. It's like, you just got to kind of get into these zones and nobody else was telling him he was Hulk Hogan. He had to get the world to believe it. So I, I much in the same way, do the same. I just, I'm like, fuck dude, you're just the biggest, the baddest. And I remember I started to pick it up when I was in high school during cross country and I would just be there on the start line in the middle of the races, just chanting it in my head and I would just finish first and I was like, oh shit, I guess that worked. And it just became second nature. So envisioning it and believing in it is, how powerful is that?

55:09Infinitely. Infinitely. There's this really interesting book called Transurfing, which I'm going to try to paraphrase in such a small way, but largely in this book and many other books, They found out that through just ways of positioning your mind into alternate realities, it can come true. It really has the possibility, if not entirely, just happening. And like Hunter McIntyre could have been a guy who, you know, licked envelopes and worked in the office all day long. Or Hunter McIntyre could have been a 10-time world champion. Or Hunter McIntyre could have been, you know, a Navy SEAL. Like, you know, I could have been any of those things, but you ultimately just have to put your mind to that idea and just live it every single day until it just happens.

56:00It has happened. I mean, dude, I could quit everything that I'm doing right now and probably run a Fortune 500 company. It just happens. And I don't say that with, like, braggadociously. I just say it because, like, I've just watched it happen for myself so many times. I'm not really scared to say it because, like, if it didn't work out, I'm like, whatever. at least I tried and I can always fall back on that I love that I really do what's uh what's next obviously you've been in high rocks now for a long time are you gonna continue with high rocks and competing at the top level I think for me right now I still have to sit with myself a bit longer.

56:46I woke up the other day, like knowing full well that that's like what I want, but I have to do it the right way. Because if you don't buy into your story much, like we were just talking about, like you're just not like, if you won't flip through the own pages of your own book, then like, just don't, don't do it. So I'm trying to come back with a reason and a why and how I will execute. And I guess my biggest goal in life right now is to see this mission through fully, but also kind of laying this plane that I've been talking about for such a long time, which is my athletic career and go into this more mentor and media based role towards life.

57:31And I believe in this, this whole arc of travel through people's lives, which is called the pupil, the warrior, the master, and the guru. A pupil is this very raw person who's always absorbing information, doesn't really have any substantiated ideas. A warrior gets into this idea of like, I want to become a doctor or I want to become an athlete. Like you're out there in the world, like actively charging and just going after your goals and fighting against your, anything that gets in your way. Some people are weaker warriors than others, but like, ideally you're this person that's attacking what you want and that eventually you've gone through so much of that that you've learned so much from that world that you kind of pull back and you become more of a advisor role that master status where you're advising people who are going through the same path and eventually you end up in a guru role where you don't really have to actively pursue anything whether it be attacking advising now you're just existing and that somehow resonates and creates even more alignment with everything that you're in.

58:34And I can feel very much so that I'm switching more into that master phase. My physical body is losing its grip on the ground, and I can feel the energy in my body kind of traveling up from my legs and my chest and my arms much more and living in my brain every single day. And I've always been a very brainy kind of guy, but I can feel it stronger than ever. so I never will do anything at even 99 % like I need to do it 100 % so I haven't decided if I'm going to attack it again just yet because unless I can say that with absolution I'm not going to get started yeah I think you'd be uh great going into that next phase obviously like you say I feel like you you could if you wanted to extend your athletic career for the next you know five years and still be at the top of High Rocks, in my opinion.

59:22Yeah. But I think transitioning to what you want to do and what you want to achieve, like ultimately, is the most important thing. And I think you'd be great at it though. I think you being like, any kind of like, well, just how well you spoke on this, like you're such a great commentator. You're funny. You're comedic. You're a great storyteller. Appreciate that, dude. Yeah. That's sick. so what is next with kind of like i know you've mentioned sometimes uh that you want to start a family and stuff like that is that part of it as well yeah dude i think about the family aspect of it so much like it's crazy how important my family has been to me but because of this lifestyle it's so hard like it's i'm so happy for you found a rock star girl that's been able to like well it seems almost seamlessly continue to travel with you and be a part of all this, but that's been very complicated for me to try to create because I admittedly, I am pretty crazy and I am so extreme about my decisions that I could be here.

1:00:28And then tomorrow I could be in a different country and to have somebody alongside of you. That's like really confidently there and feels that they're safe and resonate with the same ideas is it's hard to find. So congrats. I'm happy for you, but I'm getting closer I found some really excellent girls I've had so many great girlfriends in my life but I think timing has been such a big issue for me because I haven't felt fully comfortable in letting go but much like I said I'm moving into that next phase dude I'm so close I think it's going to happen like snap of the fingers I'm going to get with a girl and it's not going to be like hours, minutes, days it's going to be like seconds and next thing you know you're just going to see a kid pop out Yeah, little hunts is walking around.

1:01:11And I'm not stopping at, like, one, dude. I'm getting, like, an army of those things. I think that's really important to me is, like, I've always, if you've noticed, like, traveled and had, like, training camps. I want to have a permanent training camp in my life, just a monster pack of just bros, little boys. I'll probably have one girl just because I'll be cursed. But the reality is, is, like, that's something I think about so much, and I'm nervous, but I think everything that I'm nervous about is the best thing for me in life to attack. What advice would you give to people that are on that path?

1:01:44Like you mentioned before, there's the pupil, there's the warrior, like probably in between that kind of transition. A young hunter, what advice would you give? I think the most important thing that I've recognized through this entire arc of life is that you cannot rush the process and everything is ultimately a lesson. Like I've gotten my ass kicked in so many different ways. As soon as I got into business, like I'm just getting wrecked all the time. But the thing is, is like you're losing, but that is ultimately setting the foundation for your wins. And I'm so much more successful in business now than I started because I just didn't quit.

1:02:20I think so many people want this instant gratification of just like feeling validated with a win. But in reality, like feel validated by the consistency of the journey. Like change the way that you define success. I look at people that are just consistent and I'm like that's badass that person is steadfast like you can't just let a gust of wind come in and change your opinion and your emotions about life it is exactly that path you can't just go from pupil to like master or guru status and I think so many people want to these days like I did one high rocks and now I am an elite high rocks coach and I'm like no you're not you're an idiot you're an idiot like the rest of us and you need to sit there with it and just accept it and you don't need to paint a picture that you're not.

1:03:07Like you're not that person. Just be cool. Be cool with being a novice and being raw. I had to be with business. I had to be in so many different facets and it's not meant to be like get in your face and make you feel bad when I say that, but more so just start to accept that and you'll resonate with it a lot more and you'll be more successful in that position and the path will be more direct and authentic when you get there as you're on the path. so and also just like don't fucking be scared like everybody's opinions mean shit these days like everybody I've noticed that has ever given me an opposing opinion in life will say it on a phone via a post a text and then I see them face to face and they are shivering when they see me because they cannot even fully align themselves with their words because they're just not that person.

1:03:54Everybody's tougher and taller in their text messages and posts. Nobody's got the fucking spine of a lion. And the reality is, is to let yourself be swayed by these kitty cat human beings is just such a sad way to live. Like never let your goals, your opinions or anything be pushed around by those you wouldn't sit at a table with confidently. Like it's just so odd. The world is so weird. And to me, I am only here in the place that I'm in right now because I just never was willing to accept anything anyone ever told me unless I said it to myself. And if when I say it to myself, then I can start accepting it.

1:04:38But any nobody else can paint me as something different than I am. and as soon as you can align with that confidently man like your life is free you can let go of all of the angst all of the pressure and at that point you're on that wave i was telling you about and you own it it's free energy so i live in that moment every single day it's not always easy but i'm always waiting to catch the next wave on my terms and then last thing i want to touch on because I think this is so important coming from you, especially. Your nutrition. Yeah, what about it? You eat like an athlete. And I want you to explain what that actually means.

1:05:25It is difficult for me to say this without insulting so many people. So I'm just going to start by saying, if you hear this and it insults you, then whatever, shut this thing off.

1:05:41Don't look at food as food. Look at it as fuel. When I go to a gas pump, there's only three options. And I just have to fill up the tank. And if you're a high-performance vehicle, you just need to fucking fill that tank up over and over and over again. And you don't look at the color of the food. You don't look at the diet. Does it align with your veganism or any of these things? Because in reality, most of the people are under eating and underachieving with their entirety of their athletic life. And once I found out that basically sugar is the answer to almost everybody's problems, I just started pouring in on everything.

1:06:21I mean, dude, if you go into my house right now, there is only milk, sugary drinks, steak, and honey and cereal in my entire house. I almost never eat vegetables. and sometimes I do like juicing and things like that, and it's been good and things like, but the reality is due to sugar is a superfood. Ketones are fucking bullshit. I think that amino acids are helpful, but EAAs are bullshit. Everything that you're seeing in the internet these days is a marketing hype designed by a company that basically is just trying to fuck with your head and get your bank account. Like, did you know that kale was predominantly sold to only one distribution company throughout the majority of its life.

1:07:06And it was to Pizza Hut to be a garnish around their salad bars. And then somewhere along the lines, people picked up and it became something that became a superfood through a marketing company. So you hear these kind of things and you're like, what the fuck? So I think it's crazy that the nutrition world is probably the most it is the most probably black and white uh like world where people align themselves like are you vegan or not and they get upset about it and are you do you believe in ketones are you high carb you low carb black white black white where in reality almost nobody in this industry knows what they're talking about they're only leading with their emotions rather than their brain and it is crazy to me and I've worked with so many high level nutritionists and guess what when I get to the top of the food chain of the highest nutritionist dude it's just sugar it always just comes down to sugar and I know that's going to freak people out but I don't go to Whole Foods to get healthy food I go there just to get it's because it's the only grocery store really in town I'd rather shop at the feed and just buy sugar different flavors of it than anything else in my entire life oh I want to try grapefruit today whatever I'll try that flavor I don't need to eat a real grapefruit I just need to eat more carbs flavored as grapefruit because in reality if you try to eat the amount of grapefruits that you need in a day to achieve our level of training you will never fucking make it you will need to eat like 25 grapefruits I've tried and it doesn't make any sense so what do you do?

1:08:46you go to a website like thefeed.com and you buy grapefruit flavored carbohydrates in powder form and you drink it until you fucking finish your sessions and that's the reality of our life as athletes. Like I don't care that I might be pre-diabetic. I'm a 10-time world champion. I will stomp you out. You can eat as much grapefruit as you want, but I will crush your soul on powdered carbs and honey and bread and Cheerios and whole milk, not almond milk, that's for pansies. I just I get really upset about nutrition because I just think it's one of these kind of things that is such an emotionally attached decision by most people that they will never ever be able to logically have this conversation with me and I want to save the whole world I do like I told you I was going into that master mentor phase and I'm telling you the truth right now but so many people will listen to this and they will start shaking they will start shaking because they can't emotionally encounter the reality of this situation and i'm okay because like you know in reality i can't save everybody lifeboats only have six seats in them so if you want to get in mind let's start rowing and drink some sugar along the way i think that's great to a great way to end the podcast uh just wanted to say like uh ever since i met you you've been a role model everything that comes out of your mouth like i know that you mean it with good intentions appreciate that dude i i genuinely do appreciate that and finishing that with the nutrition thing like i'm fully on board with that for athletes yeah yeah yeah and and it's uh it's it's important that you tell the truth we tell the truth on this stuff because like yes we could do a day of eating where we're only eating whole organic foods or whatever but it's not the truth Dude, I've been filming this project which is like 3-4 workouts a day which will come out in the future I've been drinking mostly Monster Energy drink the entire time and I am a freaking monster right now I could go through brick walls and this is an ad for Monster Energy drink it's just sugar and caffeine and I tried to be healthy because we were doing this summer shred cutting up phase thing and I felt like crap while we were filming and then I just switched over to sugar again and I just started plowing through everybody.

1:11:16The cast was falling apart. Everybody's falling apart and I'm just standing there like a freaking Titan. And I mean, listen, I could tell you guys stories like this the whole time. I'm grateful to be here, dude. I had such a great time. Thanks for coming up. Honestly, this is one of the more inspiring people that I've met in my entire life as well. Very few people that I meet that say they're going to go after a goal, go after it like him with absolution, continuance and never really skip a beat in the path towards what they're really chasing he started this podcast i've never seen him skip a week the entire thing time he started the thing his marathons everything you guys stay tuned to this thing because he will continue this forever and always and he's somebody to admire and somebody to follow because if you even have 10 of the guts this guy does to start things and also follow through on things you'll be for the better thank you man thank you that was very kind of course dude congrats