Coach. Podcaster. COACHCASTER.

Get ready for one of the most enthusiastic guests yet! Greg Cheek, retired Major and former non-commissioned officer of the United States military, has made it his life's mission to motivate and inspire others. He has survived homelessness as a teenager, a twenty year military career, BEAT CANCER! These days Greg travels the world speaking to active duty personnel, prior-service members and civilians alike to help motivate and inspire them about overcoming life's adversities.

Greg shares his life's adversities and successes that resonate with anyone today seeking to better themselves through a philosophy built around optimism, visualization and action. He presents on an array of motivational topics including key note presentations, overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams, goal setting, dealing with cancer and illness, resiliency, collegiate faculty communication, healthcare communication between patient and provider, presentation training and overcoming speaker apprehension, leadership communication, breaking down communication walls, athlete and team confidence through effective communication.

Greg can be found all over social media and on his website here, and make sure to pick up his book Three Points of Contact here on Amazon or anywhere books are sold!

Have you ever stumbled across something that you immediately became obsessed with, needing to know everything about it and how to implement it into your daily life? Well that was the case with building a healthy mind, body and soul for Sophie Aris. After watching her first ever physique competition she was hooked, competing in multiple shows over the course of the next year or so.

But through this process of competing, Sophie also began to grow her passion for content creation and applying similar principles from the gym to her every day life and social media presence. Being semi-forced out of her 9-5 job as a public school teacher, Sophie went full-force into her entrepreneur mode; blogging, growing her Instagram, becoming a sponsored athlete by huge brands such as Nocco, Gymshark and Ghost, and creating as much content as possible to further enrich the lives of those people who follow her journey online.

Sophie's blog hosts amazing recipes and wellness insights, and her Instagram page is updated daily showing her giant smile or current workout routine (or both!).

If you seek out a digital form of programming or accountability in today's market you will most likely be overwhelmed with the amount of "online coaches". The term has all but been bastardized by social media and people selling get-lean-quick and cookie-cutter programs. Yes, these work for a small amount of people. But for this week's guest Kyle Hunt (and myself) that is simply not enough.

Kyle has been involved with digital accountability and online coaching log before it was trending on Instagram. He connects with his clients on a personal level to make sure they receive the utmost value and bang for their buck. In this interview, coach-to-coach, Kyle and I talk about the do's and dont's of this growing profession, what makes a good online coach as well as client, what to look for when trying to branch out this platform for both the trainer and person seeking to make changes to their life.

Kyle as a certified fitness trainer and nutrition specialist with his B.S. in Exercise Science. He hosts and produces the podcast Absolute Strength as well as serves clients in-person and online via Kyle Hunt Fitness. He has an amazing and motivating Instagram and can be found on most social media platforms under the same name.

Hate. It's just another four-letter word. It has a surface-level negative connotation if you let it. Matt Vincent, 2012 and 2014 Highland Games world champion and co-founder of HVIII Brand Goods, unpacks for us how he uses hate to his advantage.

With a strong (no pun intended) foundation in field games, Matt has spent the better part of a decade donning a performance-apparel kilt and hurling hundreds of pounds against some of the world's largest and strongest men. But this skill has carried over into much more, Matt and his brother founded HVIII (pronounced "hate") Brand Goods to help others see further into themselves, to do more, be more, demand more from themselves. 

Matt says it best here: 

"HVIII... is a strong term that many will find negative. Good. So do I. I refuse to not get better. It is not an option. I will make the sacrifices necessary to be the best. This attack on the self is necessary because if I don’t train everyday with the intention of destroying the old me, then I’m missing something. This is the fire I feel, that I want you to feel. This is the fire, the hate, the motivation for improvement.

There is no excuse not to improve yourself. No one gives a shit. People may coddle you, but when you sit alone, you have only yourself to blame. We have all had days when we come up short because we’re unprepared. If you are unprepared, then it is your fault. So take responsibility. There is something you can do about it."

Have you ever been called in to assist with a terrorist or hostage crisis? No? Well today's special guest has many times! Former lead FBI international kidnapping negotiator Chris Voss has seen it all and talked his way out of it all. 

For most of us, we have more of a chance of going up against a peer for that big promotion than trying to save lives. And that is just what Chris teaches us here; how to negotiate anything like your life depended on it. How to become a better listener, a better conversationalist and, most importantly, how to ask key questions to steer the conversation and negotiation in the direction we want. How to change the terms of a contract, how to get a raise, how to get bumped up to the next flight when yours gets canceled (a secret we learn from Chris' son in the episode). Bottom line - how to use simple tools to yield phenomenal results.

Chris' latest book, Never Split the Difference is an amazing read that gives step-by-step tactics to win everyday occurrences. His weekly newsletter, The Edge, is the icing on the cake for extra content on how to be an effective negotiator in any situation.

Whether you are trying to lose weight or are seeking to better understand the human body on your own wellness journey, you have undoubtedly encountered that dirty little "F" word... FAT. We all have it, but why? What is its biological purpose? This episode dives deep into the science of this hormone and how it works for us and against us.

"Dr. Sylvia Tara, holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from The University of California, San Diego and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.She was a healthcare management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and has worked for the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

After an extended battle with fat, Dr. Tara became fascinated with its resiliency and embarked on a mission to better understand it. This book is the culmination of years of research and interviews with physicians, patients and leading scientists. The Secret Life of Fat will forever change how you think about this misunderstood organ."

Function. Fashion. Very rarely do the two come hand-in-hand, especially in the athletic apparel industry. Nate Checketts sought to bridge this gap by creating a clothing line that went the extra mile again and again because he knew that was exactly the type of person who would wear it. His company, Rhone, is the product of a lifetime of entrepreneurial spirit, Nate shares with us his story of the lessons learned, mistakes made and what exactly it takes in order to successfully step out on your own and serve a need (and make it a thriving business at the same time.)

Rhone is for every man. Like their website says, "Whether running errands, jumping on a flight, or pushing hard in the gym, Rhone feels good, looks good, performs better. Ultimately we want to capture that which inspires all of us. Our belief is we can push each other and our product forward each day." And they even have "#foreverforward" as their driving hashtag, how perfect is that?!

Have you ever tried a new diet in hopes that it would be THE ONE to shed the weight you have been wanting to lose for years? Have you joined a gym or hired a personal trainer to only turn into a monthly donation? Or what about taken a look inside yourself, a physical and emotional inventory of how you were truly showing up to reach those goals? Most of us, being brutally honest with ourselves, do not have experience in the later. Our emotions are just as an important muscle to train for our wellness as any other body part we may be trying to sculpt. This is usually why we are not as successful as we may like because we are putting someone else's diet in our body, someone else's workout in our training routine and not truly listening to what our own body is telling us it needs and wants. We are our own experiment, our lives are truly a "n=1" case study.

Today's guest, Josh Trent of Wellness Force, is going to guide us down his path of personal enlightenment of how he used emotional intelligence to take inspired action to lose over eighty pounds, train and coach others and ultimately live a life ever forward. He will mention some amazing tools that helped him along his journey, such as in-depth metabolic lab testing from WellnessFX, physical activity trackers, apps such as Nudge Health Tracker and much more.

We are joined by The One Thing's Vice President, Geoff Woods today and learning all about how analyzing the five closest people in your life can really help set you on your true path. How asking 'What can I do for you?" will always come back to serve your goals more than you ever thought possible.

Geoff is an outstanding example of walking-the-walk when it comes to taking his own advice. We learn how in just ten short months he went from employee to helping launch The One Thing's empire with the co-authors of the worldwide bestselling book. Geoff walks me through several role playing scenarios in which things get real, real fast! I encourage you all to listen with open ears and an honest heart, as you will undoubtedly walk away with clarity on how to go about structuring your day, your calendar, your relationships and your life - how finding your ONE thing so that by doing it everything else becomes easier or unnecessary.

Make sure to check out Geoff's amazing podcast and free content here!

In honor of the six month anniversary of Ever Forward Radio, it is my honor to bring you all a very special interview that shines a light on another prominent meaning behind the two words that have molded my life. And not just my life, but the complete trajectory of my family's. A huge part of that has been Ever Forward Apparel founder, Instagram and YouTube fitness personality Maxx Chewning, my younger brother.

In this episode we learn what drives this young man on a daily basis to never stop pursuing excellence, to never stop being more. How once he puts his mind to something he quickly becomes a subject matter expert, analyzing it from every possible angle to improve upon it and make it his own. This could not be more apparent than on his thriving fitness YouTube channel, quickly rising to the top in his industry in a short time period. Whether filming a 600 pound deadlift, a day of eating or whatever whacky antic he has decided to make the focus of his vlog there is no doubt that you will be engaged from start to finish.

Maxx continues to be a source of motivation for those looking to pursue their passions, tackle any larger-than-life task or even conquer daily life obstacles. He is a walking, talking example of what it means to truly live a life ever forward. However quirky it may be!

Morning person? Night owl? Regardless of the label, there is one thing that is the common denominator and that is sleep is king. Hands down. Without proper sleep the rest of your day, your life and your tasks undoubtedly suffer. But how do you know how much your body really needs? With so much information (and misinformation) online and in the world, how do we truly know what best suits us an individual? This week's guest, Dr. Michael Breus, PhD a.k.a. The Sleep Doctor, shares with us his amazing findings on how to bulletproof your sleep health by helping you determine your chronotype in his book "The Power of When". 

In this amazing read, Dr. Breus explains how to best understand your chronotype with a simple quiz, also available online for free here at The Power of When Quiz. This proves beneficial for primarily improving your sleep health; when your body is best suited to go to sleep, when to wake, when to nap and everything in between.

But it doesn't stop with sleep! Learning your body type and your chronotype helps you determine when you are best suited to eat lunch, ask for a raise, have sex, write a novel, take your medications and so much more.

A childhood fraught with daily violence, neighbors with gunshot wounds, street riots and so many other traumatic events, Rosie Acosta quickly became immune to her toxic environment. She knew nothing else, this was her norm. However, one day through the power of taking pause, taking a breath and instilling mindfulness into her present she was able to radically change the course of her existence. Rosie chose to set herself on a path to become a yoga practitioner to help others live a life full of health, wellness and overall adopting a "radically loved" paradigm.

In this episode, Rosie shares with us exactly HOW and WHY we all should shift our focus to the power of NOW. How to bring a greater sense of awareness into our lives to better process everything from common daily stressors (work, relationships, fatigue, etc.) to working through significant traumatic events (as she does with Afghanistan war veterans suffering from PTSD). In one word - MINDFULNESS.

Currently on the road all across America for Yoga Journal's "LIVE BE YOGA" tour, Rosie is bringing mindfulness to the masses. She hosts and incredible podcast called "Radically Loved" where you can actually hear her interview me, available the same time as this episode of EF Radio can be heard.

Rosie's amazing accomplishments include being 500 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance, graduate of New York’s IIN School, a Health Coach Training Program, and is Nutrition and Wellness Certified through AFPA (accredited by the American Naturopathic Medical Accreditation Board) She is able to guide her clients through a nutritive way to help with weight management and enhancing overall health through fitness performance and holistic foods.