EFR 399: Adopting the Warrior Mentality to Overcome Any Crucible with Juan Guadarrama

As we go through life we will undoubtedly face challenges; physical, mental, and emotional. How we rise to those occasions and the attitude we have towards them are perhaps the two most determining factors in whether they build us up or tear us down. Juan Guadarrama has been through his share of crucibles; the military, powerlifting, entrepreneurship, fatherhood and so much more but in each endeavor he chooses to lean into the challenge - EMBRACE THE SUCK - to maximize his life experience but also to be a role model for those around him and the next generation of young men that will lead after him.

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Episode resources:

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• Juan's gym and brand Sorta 

Interview transcript:

Juan: 00:05:54 What's up, man. How are you? I'm great. Thank you for having me.

Chase: 00:05:58 Thank you for coming. Um, you're here, but your mind has gotta be somewhere else right now, man. You're about to

Juan: 00:06:05 A little bit. Yeah, yeah. A little bit. How excited are you? I am super excited. Uh, the first time around, you kinda don't know what's going on. So I had my first child at 23. Yeah. Just turned 30 on the first days ago, heavy bleeding. It literally just a few days ago, a few days ago. Uh, but the evolution of growing up and being through what we've developed with our first child in the love, also the relationship between us growing together, this second child, every time we think about it, I'm I do. I cry inside every single time. The concept of my child holding my other child blows my mind, blows my mind, whose sons you too.

Chase: 00:06:46 You're gonna have your second son coming into the world. Yes. And we're going to definitely get into the full story here, man. But someone like yourself that has, you know, at 30 years old, been through so much, you know, put yourself through so many different crucibles of mental testing, physical testing. Um, you've got to have some kind of idea of what you want to pass on already to your sons, right? Like the lessons that you've learned and just 30 really short years on earth.

Juan: 00:07:14 Yeah. It's kind of what has based everything that I do professionally. Yeah. Like my son in being a family man. So the thing, when everyone asks me, what do you do? Well, first I'm a, I'm a husband, a father and a coach. Like those are the hats that I wear. Uh, and my actions, uh, are based off how I can help in those hats or better improving those hats. Uh, and I've kind of made, made. I for sure have made my brand and the brand of the gym based on core principles. And if it doesn't fit that and we're not doing it, what are those principles? Uh, like growth, personal growth. And we have the gym, which I can teach you how to squat. That's a given that's, that's already, I've seen you. And I actually know, I think when I was there training, uh, it was you're dead lifting.

Juan: 00:08:09 I think so. I can't, I can't attest to the squad. No doubt. The deadlift is on appointment. Vice squad was way more important than my dad, but I'm like, Oh, that's an easy one. I can teach you that. The next one is like, okay, what what's going on inside your brain? Why are, why do you not have the things that you want already? Why are you not happy? Uh, and do you even know why you're doing the behaviors that you're doing? So those are like the secondary things. Uh, those are the things that are gonna slow down progress at the gym as well. Uh, and I've been able to like, uh, find happiness in and success because my actions line up with my core values. So growth is one of them, uh, contribution another one contributing to the community. Uh it's like if,

Chase: 00:08:56 If, if it's, let's say for example,

Juan: 00:08:58 Something that maybe I'm not getting paid for, but is this actually going to help? I'm for sure. Down for it. Uh, and then the last one is like autonomy, autonomy, freedom, freedom, to be able to do this freedom, to do things that I want to do freedom to in you'll know this, once you have your child, at some point, it's like, I want to go hang out with my child and it's a 9:00 AM on a Wednesday. I want to have the freedom and the right to like, I'm going to my child's classroom right now. Cause I want to go see him

Chase: 00:09:24 Sing happy birthday to someone I want that. I want that.

Juan: 00:09:27 Yeah. That's the only thing that matters. Screw everything else truly. Uh, so I I've tricked people to coming to the gym to do some bad-ass workout or whatever, but then the, with the trust that I gained from them, from me, coaching them on the physical side, I try to figure out how to mentally get into their brain. And let's, I know the happiness I've been able to achieve for myself. I want that for others, especially in 2020. Yeah. Dude, come on.

Chase: 00:09:58 How have you been doing that? I mean, I know from, from my days in kind of the coach client relationship, the physical aspect is there, like you said, I can teach you how to squat. I can teach you how to do all these things, but when you need to get into here, that's the tricky part. Have you found 2020 to be easier to connect with people mentally? Has it been more of a barrier? Like what's really been your secret sauce to like finally make that connection for people this year? Yeah.

Juan: 00:10:23 So like the first thing that comes to mind is I first needed to take care of myself and those again, go back to my core values. Right? So the first thing is if I'm continuing to grow and learn. So like one of the first things I did as I dove into cognitive behavioral therapy, deep, deep thought patterns and behavior, why are you thinking this way? Uh, all those things. I'm like, okay, if I can do that for myself, I am happy. I also like to teach, uh, so I can kind of pass that along. Okay. Um, the other ones are, I have a family at home having a family at home. It just makes everything easier because everyone that I, the most important people that are, I love are right here. That support system is the support system. And me and my wife enjoy being around each other.

Juan: 00:11:14 Uh, we've worked hard to have that relationship and the same thing with my child. I love messing around with him and, and play fighting and playing monopoly, playing UNO and playing video games. And in that comradery, because I know it's building that trust. So when we hit those middle school years in those high school years, hopefully we have that channel to like, Hey dude, let's talk. Yeah. So, uh, maybe some of us, or in, uh, older times that, that dad, son relationship wasn't as open. Um, and I, or just like the lack of education education as well. Good point. Yeah. You know, um, a recent thing that has come to mind just becoming a dad and being more interested in, in like where I'm coming from. Like I was talking to my dad on father's day, I think father's day and just realizing I dude, I had my parents migrated here.

Juan: 00:12:15 And so I'm first gen here from where Mexico and realizing that my grandparents didn't know how to read and write well, and we're just two generations away. And we were like, dude, how am I here right now? What is going on? Like, I shouldn't be right. It's super dope. And you like have to like, look at that timeline to appreciate it. And then it's like looking back at your, your family evolution truly. And I'm like excited for my son to like, dude, you, you are having such a far headstart start and I'm excited for what you can bring into the world. Damn. You know? Uh, so it special moments of that.

Chase: 00:12:55 Yeah. I mean, looking at your past, I mean, you literally can look at your past your present and your future. I think that's one of the coolest things that I'm really looking forward to when it comes time for me to be a father is like that. That's the future. That's your future. Would you say that having children has made you more aware and more conscious, more planning for the future or has it kind of on the opposite? Has it made you be more mindful of your past and how far you have come in your family? Does that question make sense?

Juan: 00:13:26 Because of my past is kind of how it's set up my, my behavior and how I treat my, my child's are like, um, a silly example. And this is common in the Latino community too, where you get in trouble, you get smacked like belt smacked. And when you're younger, you're like, yo, that's how I'm going to discipline my child. But then you grow up and you're like, yo, that's fucked up. That she was not cool. That doesn't make sense. That means I'm messing up. Right. Because everything's a reflection of you. Like why are you not understanding that I need to be pissed at myself? Or how are you not understanding that? Yeah. Uh, realizations like that, what do I want your outcome to be a kind of have to trick you with my behavior to get the outcome that I want from you. Right. It really is a trick. Yeah. You're just manipulating him to get the response that you want.

Chase: 00:14:22 I have a positive outcome. Positive. Absolutely. Yeah.

Juan: 00:14:25 I call it like for behavior or a positive outcome. And I was like really interested because yours is ever forward and mine similar forward behavior. And like, what is keeping you from forward behavior? There we go back. There we go. If it's not there, if it's stopping you, what can we fix or help give you the two and not necessarily give you the tools so you can make forward progress. But anyways, tricking my child and just knowing how boys are in very competitive, uh, kind of don't back down from challenges. And if you hear, if it's a challenge, like you probably are going to step up to the plate, like we'll do simple stuff to homework where I kind of treat it like a workout, like a wad, a dude, we crushed this homework right here. We question this workbook right here. We are free to go play.

Juan: 00:15:09 Okay. So we need to tap in. We need to focus. Uh, and if you were watching, you were like, ah, outsiders were watching you like, Oh, that was a little aggressive. So I remember, um, little stuff like we're practicing letters and like, okay, you need to focus. You need to make these letters look good, look good. Meaning you gotta trace the lines. And if you don't make them look the same size, that is not good work. Right. You need to put effort for it. It's not, it's not the potential it could be. Right. So, so giving immediate feedback to her, Hey, yo, your letter B look sharp. Good. Next one. Yo, your letter and this, this comes from, uh, having that baseline relationship. You're a looks like trash dude. You need to erase it. That's terrible. Come on. A form is terrible. It's bigger than the lowercase a is bigger than the uppercase B how's that possible?

Juan: 00:16:02 Uh, you need to fix it. Yeah. But just being on top of him and making it a competition, you're like, all right, I need you to focus. Maybe it's a little aggro, but you get, you get the job done and tricking him into getting the outcome that you want. Uh, so the little, little stuff like that that you like to be talking about, you know, your kid, you'd be talking about your clients here that truly, you know, when you're trying to, I would say influence you in behavior or help. I should say, use your words here. Chase. Let's think about this. When you want to help someone get to an outcome that you know that they want and you're there to help facilitate. You kind got to get, uh, agro, I guess sometimes, or, you know, the whole role of a coach as a mentor.

Juan: 00:16:45 A dad, I think is to help people realize, correct me if I'm wrong and help people realize, Hey, this is why we're here. This is the work that we're here to do. Um, this is the goal that we're working towards and it's going to be some wavy lines, get to a dizzy, but we're going to get there. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's doing little tricks like that. Another funny one you can, if you have a boy, you'll enjoy this. I don't know if it will work with girls, but, uh, we were potty training and since boys could stand up and he, he was peeing himself too often. Okay. All right. We've got to figure out something else. This is not working. Uh, and then I was a little high and I was like, do I have, I have the best idea, Lucas P challenge. Meaning we both go to the restroom at the same time. You whip it out. Oh, first one to hit water wins. Gamification based. So yes. So then every time he needed to pee, he goes, dad, pee challenge immediately go run. So he stopped paying his pants. Yeah. And that was like, go, this is genius idea. There was no blood for that. You just got to kind of come up on the fly for the outcome that you want. For sure. Yeah.

Chase: 00:17:56 I mean, so much of this stuff with parenting, you know, and I know another big part of your world is coaching is, you know, you have kind of your foundation, but it is very on the fly. Um, you know, each client, each moment, you know, each, each kind of session with the client, with your kid, uh, you know, have sessions with your kid it's called

Juan: 00:18:13 Parenting. Um,

Chase: 00:18:14 But, uh, you know, it is very on the fly and something we were talking about earlier was, um, something that helps you be more capable when you're on the fly, um, to pull from those foundations to pull from those, um, principles is, uh, you've gone through stuff. And yeah, we were talking specifically, um, as men, typically in a lot of cultural scenarios and just history, we tend to go through crucibles, uh, were pushed off to war, were pushed into the military, pushed into, uh, farming the soil, you know, the second we can stand up kind of things. Um, and you went through your own OCS and Quantico in the Marine Corps and myself in the army. Um, what was that crucible like? What was that test of Manliness of mental fortitude, a physical fortitude, like for you?

Juan: 00:19:06 I think in the beginning, like when you first get to bootcamp, uh it's it's culture shock for a bit and you're like, well, what am I getting myself into? But luckily, uh, I've been playing high level soccer. So then you get those coaches that are like, are on your butt. Okay. Right. And you you're used to getting yelled at, uh, and then after like a week or two of bootcamp, you figure out, all right, this is just a game. I got to figure out the system, not really after me. And you gotta figure, I want you to succeed. They want you to succeed. But also like they're just assholes about it. Well, actually, I don't want you to make it, if you're going to get me killed true. Get out, dude. Um, and that's kinda my personality in my coaching style of like, I'm in that old school grimy discipline type of coach.

Juan: 00:19:56 Okay. I know I'm not for everyone and that's fine. We all kind of have different tastes, but I was kind of you getting used to that. You need to like realize it's not personal. Uh, I'm not gonna die. Elsa. The worst thing that happens, I'm going to die. All right. Chill. I can, if I, if I can't get over that concept, I know it sounds weird. I'm going to die. Chill. If I can get over that concept, I can operate. Okay. I can let it go. So I can just be in the moment. So you learn to be in the moment you learn to be, start to get how to manage pain and suffering. It's like, you're not sleeping. You're not eating, you're tired, you're sleep deprived. Uh, you haven't seen a women in months, all these things, your friends do, you haven't talked to your friends, you have no phone, you got these stinky guys, you plug that in.

Juan: 00:20:46 You're normally doing pull ups in front of this guy. That's pooping right behind you. Cause that's the only place to do pull ups in the, in the Bay. Uh, so at some point you get comfortable. And I don't know because of that or because of sports. I like being in the trenches in the sock and the sun. That's where I love to do. I'm a weirdo like that. But I think that also is what makes me a good coach. Okay. So in that, I'm just comfortable in that and that can help guide other people, uh, when they're in that. Uh, and I kind of really don't care for the end result. So have you seen kind of my history of stuff I get to the end point and then I look around and I kind of just walk away the, because it's like crossing a finish line and it's like playing a sport.

Juan: 00:21:32 So if I was training for soccer or a race, you either did the work or you didn't, you're either already going to be successful or you were not going to be successful. Right. So I like, I like the, the, the grimy day-to-day the today's training day is what matters that end day. It's already too late. It's already kind of determined for you. Yeah. Um, so I kinda, I did that for the military. So going back, um, I went to OCS during the summers of college. Then after college, I studied entrepreneurship. Didn't accept. My commission started personal training. My son was about to be born freaked out and got my EMT license in a month, was working on an ambulance, got to that quit. That became a strength coach. Uh, uh, I forgot quitting soccer. I was playing D one LMU soccer quit my freshman year here.

Juan: 00:22:25 Cause I was like over it. Uh, so this cycle of, I get to the, the thing that I wanted and I just kinda dip then realize I kind of have the skills to do hard things. I think I can help other people do hard things as well and then send them off. Okay. I realize that at some point. Okay. Um, and that's kind of why I continue to do that. It fulfills me like we, we train at 4:00 AM five times a week. Uh, we haven't missed in, I don't know, three, four years. Like today we, today we squatted and we did a little bit of strict press, um, who woken up that early to work out, uh, since I didn't think it was Sergeant made me think I was going to wake up at that time anymore. Uh, that's just part of my soul. Okay.

Juan: 00:23:15 I just, this warrior being in the, in the, in the mix, um, it's, it's just part of my being in that kind of like, I need that. Um, and that's also what I feel is like my gift to those around me of like, I'm going to be a staple for you, you know, I'm getting to be there and I'm not going to miss. I will be there for you, a pillar in your life to where maybe you're trying to find some sort of balance or base. Um, and that's kind of what I see my role is, uh, in, in as a coach and as a person. Yeah. You know? Um, so I, I enjoy and I love the suck of it.

Chase: 00:24:00 Racist dog, baby. That's something we're probably both used to hearing a lot. Yeah. Um, you said a key word warrior

Juan: 00:24:06 And I,

Chase: 00:24:07 You know, as we were talking before we were recording, I kept just getting this concept of, um,

Juan: 00:24:12 Like that word and you just said it and

Chase: 00:24:16 We are, it is a very, uh, I think kind of a clear term when we're talking about, like I said earlier, sending the men off to the war to go to the military and just leaving the coop kind of thing. Like we, that's really the ultimate Testament of a warrior. And so many cultures and history is go off,

Juan: 00:24:34 You get tested

Chase: 00:24:35 And you come back and it's not just that you completed that thing, but it's what you learned from that thing. Like, you're just saying it wasn't the finish line didn't really matter. Right. I crossed the finish line. I did the thing and I realized that that that's not what I'm after. That's not my being, that's not my identity. Yeah. How would you kind of say that this warrior mentality is your identity? It's what you kind of bring to the table and how do you kind of interpret that term warrior and this modern?

Juan: 00:25:01 A lot of it, uh, comes from what we were talking earlier. I, I ha I'm fortunate to be around a lot of people. So I get to observe a lot of people. Yeah. Because I'm a father to a dad and I'm, uh, I still coach soccer and it's mostly boys. And I knew how I was, uh, as a, as a guy just had a lot of energy, but had some direction, but I think could have used more direction. And, uh, I view, and I sometimes get sad. And in worried you can imagine is, uh, like what, what world am I sending my child into? And I can see the struggles that teenagers go through nowadays that I don't remember. Maybe us having, like what, uh, like the way I grew up, like people would get in fights. You had a conflict with someone you are going to fist fight after that fight.

Juan: 00:25:55 There's a mutual respect that doesn't happen anymore. Yeah. Or the, um, how do I say this carefully? The there's a lot of sadness and depression. Some of it, yes. I agree that it's mental and it's, there's a chemical imbalance. Some of it from my observation is just like, we don't have that direction and fire anymore times have just changed. And that's why we don't go through crucibles anymore. So if I, if I can win over some trust in, and this is kind of where it said betterment and what we were talking about, uh, with, with Ben, then we've done podcasts in the past with of, uh, I, I think I'm fortunate to be around boys, that I can kind of influence them to also be warriors responsibility, meaning that you can show up as a professional human being in sport as a friend, as a student, as a boyfriend, as a husband, uh, and kind of also breaking stereotypes as a young Latino male of all the things that I was not supposed to accomplish.

Juan: 00:27:01 Being a young dad, staying with your spouse, going to school, reaching high, pretty high Heights on different career paths, talking about feelings and emotion, talking about feelings and emotions. Yeah. Uh, and not thinking less of someone and, and normalizing, Hey, let's talk to each other and chase that needs some help. Right. And maybe there might be a day. Hey dude, what do you think about this? Yeah. I'm not thinking less of you or you have me. It's more, actually more respect because I know this guy's in my tribe. When we can go out into the world and change other people's lives. So I'm very pro let's make better men because if women are encountered by better men, they will also be treated better. She could still be about us. You can still ride motorcycles. You could still be a bro and lift weights. You can still smoke, eat, but you can still be an upright citizen.

Juan: 00:27:50 You can still stand for something. Mic drop right there. For sure. I know your friends being a fucking asshole. Tell him don't be a shitty friend. Why are you being assertive? Our friend, like, that's not a real friend. Like if you want to be friends with me, don't come with some fake ass rapper shit. If you're going to be a father, be a father in like, yo, your child needs some stern disciplining and letting him know he messed up or she messed up, but it's coming out of love and letting them understand why you messed up. So sometimes Lucas messes up and I need to let him feel like, yes, he's going to cry a little bit. But the beautiful thing that comes back, like 30 seconds later, he comes back and he's like, yeah, y'all, I'm sorry. I messed up. Can we continue playing?

Juan: 00:28:28 Yes, we can continue playing. Don't take it. Don't take it personal. Let it go in the world. In the workplace. What I see right now? Soft. Yeah. Yeah. We're soft. Yeah. I think if we can stand for things and have core values, we can be happier and know what we're fighting for. Like, um, a really good example is like, like what are you guys doing? Are you kidding me? Like some of these actions that are supposed to be positive, these side actions taking advantage and crossing a line, this is not helpful. And I'm a Latino male. Like, trust me, I'm, I'm up for whatever fight. But you, you start with you and the people around you. Um, one of the most proud things I have right now is the diversity I have in my gym. Yeah. You look around how are you guys all hanging out? It is beautiful. It, I, it makes me happy every day. Yeah, man, you're lighten up. It makes me happy every day. And especially what we talked about earlier, I was like, Oh, these are like really new people to fitness. This makes me so excited. All right. So this is protein carbs. And these are fats here. The basics that's transformed

Chase: 00:29:40 Your life, super sick.

Juan: 00:29:42 And just having those basic conversations again is, is, uh, you forget. Right. And it means something.

Chase: 00:29:49 It does. It does. It means a lot. Um, but finding that meaning, um, is so important. And like we were talking earlier, you know, you gotta, you gotta go through stuff to really find meaning in things that you're going through to find meaning of your own self. Um, you said earlier

Juan: 00:30:04 That you don't really know where

Chase: 00:30:06 You questioned the level to which, you know, people are going through our crucibles this day and age, do you think it's because do you think it's just because there are more ways to not go through stuff? Um, like there, you know, the modern age technology, you know, there are more easy ways out, more options tend to not have to go through struggle, to not have to go through sacrifice and the pain and the discomfort to kind of get to an end result. Or do you think people are just, just kind of consciously choosing to not go through?

Juan: 00:30:40 That's a hard one, I think for sure. There's, uh, a bypass. Okay. Right. Yeah. I guess that's really kinda my question. Right? There's like a bypass. I look at it like my child's life and he goes to a privileged school, like where, where are you going to go through something tough, dude. I'm trying to, so I kind of have to very carefully now to love artificially sometimes create that.

Chase: 00:31:02 Yeah. Because you probably don't, I mean, you want the world for your kid and you want the world for your family and friends, but

Juan: 00:31:07 It doesn't have the tool. It's not going to have a doodle on

Chase: 00:31:09 To put them into the danger and the struggle. But, but like, you want them to go through it because you know what that means and what that's going to translate to. Yeah. How do you, how do you dance that, that line? That's

Juan: 00:31:21 Something that I think about often. Um, and there's like, uh, goals of like, okay, uh, can, there's a goal of mine that I really want to do at some point, and maybe you can help me and we can brainstorm about it too, where we get a house somewhere and we fill it up with 10 guys and girls teenage 17, 18 years old. Okay. And there goes, coach wan waking them up at 3:30 AM. We're going to go train. We're going to do something that is difficult, physically uncomfortable and mentally uncomfortable. We train whatever we come back. Maybe you give them a talk on some mindset or we storytell based on someone else's experience like where this is going on. Right. And also at the same time use all the things that we know about training. So we teach them about breath and the physiological things that happen.

Juan: 00:32:10 Well. Yeah. Why do you feel like dark shit? Your breathing is way off. Why do you feel foggy in the afternoon? Look at the stuff that you've eaten. Maybe we bring Amanda and we teach them about how to, how to cook your own food. Just fundamental, fundamental stuff in general. Okay. You get to take a nap. You guys can play video games for the next two hours, or you can sleep. I would suggest sleeping because in two hours from now, coach wants coming back or someone else. And we're going to go train again. And the evening, maybe we start shutting down. Maybe we start to journal. Maybe we do a round table. Maybe we talk about stuff when we do this for like a month. Wow. We artificially create this or a dream of mine. Like I go in and OCS and declining. Your commission is a perfect example of like, make it nothing bad.

Juan: 00:32:54 Nothing bad happens. Right? Yeah. You can, you can opt out, but test yourself, find, find ways that you're going to touch test yourself. Um, and I try to use my story as an example of like, I continue to do that. I opened a gym in during COVID walked away from a salary while having a second kid and my wife quit working. So clearly you're crazy. Let's go. And I did this the first time as well, but, um, I, I feel very comfortable. I'm not stressed about it at all because I've done all those things multiple times. And now I trust my skillset to be able to do it,

Chase: 00:33:34 Sit right there. All right. So that's something that anybody who hasn't gone through, any struggle, their own crucible, that's usually the blockade is that they have no reference point. And you know, we, you, uh, we, we had to start from somewhere. So how do you effectively communicate to somebody that you need to go through this? You need to do this, and then you're going to have your reference point. Then you're going to know the value out of this. Um, I mean, nobody comes out just knowing all the things, right. So how do you, I mean, what you just talked about that model, that household model literally was incredible. Um, like someone walks into your gym and like, they're that new client and, you know, they're there for the physical change, but you also know that you're going to need to tap into the mental and emotional and the spiritual as well. Um, how do you get them to realize without ever going through that before?

Juan: 00:34:22 Right now, I'm kind of doing it with the younger athletes that come come. Uh, I kinda, I, we created this thing study hall, so, cause they're all doing virtual stuff, right. We're gonna meet, we're gonna either, I'm going to tell you a story about some, I'm going to teach you something, whether it's a mindset thing or not, or we're just going to study together. Right. So a lot of the studying that I'm doing is breathwork and making, like, studying, being continuing to learn, like be cool, like normalize that, like you guys, aren't getting them to understand, like all these, I put a library in the gym for that purpose. I've read all these books I continue to read. Read is cool. I got here because I've been reading and just like getting them to understand, because they're like, I don't want to read this in between squats. You know, your sets. You're just like, instead of

Chase: 00:35:11 Aimlessly, you're like reading, uh, you know, the four hour work week or

Juan: 00:35:16 Highly effective people. We have that we have the Jocko books we have, uh, uh, Jordan, like all the starting strength we got, we got, Logan's going write book. Um, the mindset book, how Carl Dweck, uh, all these books in there, um, kind of asking in them and building, and this is kind where emotional intelligence kicks in just being around people and where they're at and sensing their energy and kind of looking at pockets to where, Hey, chase is starting to trust me. Let me, let me grab him. Yeah, yeah. Right. For the kids right now is, uh, I understand that you don't like the subject and you don't like school. Those two things are irrelevant. It's mostly a test. Can you do that simple thing, because if I'm trying to hire you right now and I'm going to base your work ethic on your grades, are you hireable right now?

Juan: 00:36:09 Uh, be honest, the first task dude, you need to pass that test or hijab. The syllabus is your cheat sheet, learn. What's on the syllabus and you're done. That is the cheat sheet. Uh, but the other side is, uh, so they have me. So I think if we're, if we're like launching this in flu world, then maybe there's someone that listening look for mentors. I look, I look for mentors, whether it's direct or non-direct whether I listen to a podcast, like when I'm driving, all I do is listen to podcasts, audio books, audio books. I love audible. Right? Cause you can drive. You don't have to sit down the physical thing. So it sped up. My, my role is incredible. You can literally do like, you know, one and a half X, two X. Yes. You get good at listening. Yeah. You get a good at listening.

Juan: 00:36:53 Absolutely. Yeah. Um, and, or, uh, I, I created this mindset, mental performance model. And one of the thing is, is emulate people that you look up to. So, so you look up to LeBron, actually. I don't like that example, anybody looks up to him today, tall as hell, but uh, but copy the things that they do do it, make it difficult. Try, try to, if school is the hardest thing that you're doing, uh, make a difficult bar, trying really hard, just try really hard and see what you get out of it. Okay. That's easy. Fine. Let's let's add training to it. And uh, I don't, I tell them I'm not ever going to ask you anything that I don't do. So if you look at my day, I post that, I wake up at three 30, true Testament of a great leader. By the way I say, uh, every day you see my videos that I worked out.

Juan: 00:37:42 Um, I train a class before you show up, you see me study at the gym or doing gym stuff, graphics or marketing, whatever that you see it firsthand. Uh, and then I go home not to chill, but now I got a parent and be a dad and you see my child and you see my, where you see all the things that I'm doing. Hmm. What is the hardest thing you've done today? And just put them on the spot. And they're like, dude, you're not doing anything to get better. If you don't want to try hard, I don't need your money to get out. Damn man. Yeah. All right. And the beautiful thing that happens, no one backs down. Yeah. I'm not trying to crush you on purpose. I'm, I'm crushing you because I know that I have your trust and I have this responsibility to push you because you're not getting this anywhere else. I know this. And I kind of use myself as like, you know, I'm stronger than you, you know, and this is kind of the police thing is as well. I don't know when you get into that, but like I have more power over you, so I have a responsibility to help you.

Chase: 00:38:43 Gotcha. Okay. Right. Yeah. Like if, if, if we,

Juan: 00:38:48 If us too, we're police officers and we're going to go arrest someone for dude we're at this is we should be able to use our skills. Exactly. Yeah. We have these massive skills

Chase: 00:39:00 Always be able to like assess and deescalate. It shouldn't be a flex of the power and the authority in the, in the knowledge. Yes, no, it's the opposite. Yeah. It's a deescalation. So that, again, like the military, but you know, it should break people down in a way that is constructive so that you can teach them and they can rise to the occasion. And again, you be able to hold your own. Exactly.

Juan: 00:39:19 Yeah. Um, long long-winded come back to what I love it, man. I do.

Chase: 00:39:26 I want to go back to something you were talking about another great kind of training modality. Um, and this is, I think just comes with the years and the reps, literally of being a coach and putting yourself through the sock, you know, that as much as putting yourself through stress, the sympathetic taxing your system, how much of a result that can yield, um, you know, along the way, because you're further along now that we should be kind of integrating parasympathetic as well. We should be running high. We should also be due the end of the yang. And you're saying that you integrate breathwork into some of your training sessions, is that right?

Juan: 00:40:03 Yes. I'm starting to, uh, what's the reasoning behind that? Well, we had that program, we have that program at shim, uh, with Kimmy Moss, uh, and she spent time living, uh, with, uh, Laird Hamilton, Gabby. So

Chase: 00:40:18 She brought that to deuce with XLT

Juan: 00:40:20 XP XPT. Right. And so we brought a sauna and ice to the gym as well as breath work. Right. Um, so my interests kind of peak there. And now that I've got my own facility, uh, I truly believe like this is going to be normalized in five years. It was like, why were we not doing this before? I believe it. Yeah. And you got like the, you heard it here first, uh, where I studied it where I've been studying it from a, is Brian McKenzie, power, speed endurance. I don't know if you know him, but I recognize

Chase: 00:40:48 The name, not super familiar with the content, but I know the name.

Juan: 00:40:50 Yeah. So he's a strength coach. It's like relatable. And you do the thing that I do as well. And one of the greatest examples that he put on there is what is the, uh, the thing that we can go without the least oxygen and breathing. Number one, if we're messing that up, how are we supposed to like process water and food? So the next thing we can go without lease is water and then food. So if our were parasympathetic or whatever state that we're in for too long of time, either way is bad, right. We should be able to go either way. And I think of that as training, you can, you should be good at high intensity and low intensity, right. They benefit both. Yeah. How are we going? Be able to break down food and transport all that into our muscles or wherever we need them to go, if we're already off and we can, we can easily see this with people walking around. Well, not right now, but with their mouth open from people not being able to sleep. Yeah. Sleep apnea. Um, how people condition the mouse, the master of hiding

Speaker 3: 00:41:53 They're hiding all or imbalances right

Juan: 00:41:55 Now. Uh, so what I've been starting to do is the thing that I, the way I view it, right. Is let's do parasympathetic regulate that cool. Warm up. Yeah. Let's go sympathetic. Also run the engine and let's do breath holds to kind of normalize it as well. Interesting. Just long story short. Right? It's like, we should, we should do strength training and we should do conditioning. Yeah. We need to have all the gears. Right. So it's like, let's get good at all of them is my, my stance. Right. Um, and I I've been putting it into practice when I drive to the gym as I'm getting there and we kind of already do this when we go, uh, especially in the morning at the gym, when we'd like power lift, you go for a big lift. Right? What do you do? What do you hear bros do? When they lift heavy, they brace their breathing, all these things. They're breathing because there's a physiological thing that's happening in your body and in your brain because you're fighting for this rep. Yup. Now we're putting science into it and

Speaker 4: 00:42:57 I love what you just said right there. It just, just hit me. You're fighting for that rep. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 00:43:02 Because the warrior mentality, man. Yeah. You're fighting for that rep.

Juan: 00:43:05 And that's why I love power lifting because it's, you don't go to the meat. You either did the work or you did it. And there's no chance to it. It's not like sport, it's sport there's chance. And there's tech, there's all these other things you either did the volume of work and your CNS is adapted or did not. It's it's a boring, brutal sport. Yeah. That is exactly why I love it. There's this there's nothing that's going to happen. No magic thing that's going to happen

Speaker 4: 00:43:30 Is, or it isn't. Yes, it was. Or wasn't

Juan: 00:43:34 So super cool. Uh, and learning how to bring your engine down. So I run high all day. I'm up. I'm probably too much. Caffeine is the thing that I struggled with. Uh, I, and I've been diving more into this because in order for me to be of help to others and be a father and a husband, I need to come down. I need to rest. Otherwise I'm just passed out more. I agree. Right. It's a need, it's a need is a need. And I know that if I don't get it, I get irritable. My, my workflow is lower. Creativity goes down. I noticed that. Uh, and I, you start feeling like you're in the rat race. You're just spinning your wheels. No. So the thing that I probably learned the last couple of years is I need to come down. I need to hide. I need to go away. Uh, I've become a very big fan of walks. Just leave your phone at home child. And my wife is here. I don't need anyone else. Yeah. I will check my phone when I come back. And so I can come back into the gym before one. Yeah. Right. Because otherwise I'm doing a disservice to tech.

Chase: 00:44:43 You're showing up you're half passing. Yeah. Yeah. When you, when you can show up into a situation to your clients, to your family, to you, to the day, and you know, that hundred percent of you is there. I mean, nothing beats that you're Superman, you're Superman.

Juan: 00:44:56 Uh, so because, uh, so breathing has been helping with that. And also I suck at meditating. I don't know how good you are at it, but like, it's difficult for

Chase: 00:45:05 Me to walk walking is my meditation and

Juan: 00:45:07 Like practicing in my breathing. And so like there's little stuff that, um, I started to notice like, uh, when I'm doing my slower breathing to slow myself down, like my heart rate is up. Oh, I seen SS fried. Okay. I need to go steady. Today's a long day. Uh, or like, yes, starting yesterday. Do I need to slow down? Cause I'm going to go to this podcast and I need to, I want to be alert. It's my chance to talk about, you know, what, I'm totally prepping days out. That's awesome. But that's the difference. That's a huge sense of awareness and the difference where to, where it might make someone follow me. So I can continue to help them in that way versus not being prepared mentally and just being foggy and not being present right now. Absolutely. You know? Uh, and I've also learned that those are the differences that make, uh, your days worth and your life worth it. Yeah. Right. Like I started my podcast so I can selfishly get to know people a hundred percent right now, forever from this point on. And we're going to be friends. Absolutely.

Chase: 00:46:08 The most incredible way to what the age old, Hey, let me, let's get coffee and pick your brains. It's a, you know, it's a coming together of minds. And I mean, don't even get me started, do it on the power of this platform. But yeah, it's just, it's a connection component.

Juan: 00:46:22 Yeah. And I was laughing and I'm like, dude, we're we're I guess all of us in health are kind of like this one, you and Amanda are like, y'all not really trying to go out and drink, want to go home and I'm trying to sleep. And I'm only really trying to have conversations like this and it's not,

Chase: 00:46:37 I mean, anything now I'm like, I don't know, like that's really going to cause my bedtime. Are you crazy? Do you not know?

Juan: 00:46:44 I trained the plus of having kids is, uh, kids, kids, you know, kids, you can kind of just dip that's the alpha everything. I'm album learning everything. Dude. You just go kids. And everyone's like, uh, okay. I should just start saying that and see if people pay attention. Like, wait, you don't have this yet. The goal thing is, if you go hang out with other parents, it's a consensus like, yo, we're shutting this down at five. Let's have dinner at three and call it a day. We're going home. We're chilling on the couch. Just trying to rest. Uh, the czar was dying when you guys were talking about dude, I'm that person as well. I'm not really trying to, I drink like three times a year. My birthday is one of them. So

Chase: 00:47:25 I'm sure, you know, a couple of weeks ago maybe partaking. So we got one out of freedom for the year. I like to wake up and do stuff. Exactly.

Juan: 00:47:33 I think you mentioned like, I don't like to wake up, hung over. It's a waste of a day. Yes.

Chase: 00:47:37 Because you know what you're capable of. Yes. You, you know what good feels like and you know what you're capable of? You know, when you want more out of life, it no longer just has to be a want because you can go get it. You can make it, you can create it and

Juan: 00:47:52 Not to be super negative. We're dying every day. Yeah. I'm not going to waste a day being hung over. I want to go do something tomorrow. I always have. I always have shit to do. I have shit to do. I don't know. Yeah. I don't ever get bored. Luckily

Chase: 00:48:08 You don't get two days off this weekend for the first. I didn't open my laptop. I didn't post on social. I think I checked Instagram maybe twice. Um, and you know, to kind of keep the whole concept of the coming down. Um, dude, such a reset. Yes. I mean, and I kind of realized that I was even lying to myself. I was half asking stuff that I always talk about for my own health and wellness, but always promote on my platforms. And you know, you gotta calm down, you gotta detach, you gotta detox. You gotta, you know, parasympathetic to the sympathetic, into the yang. But every time that I was before that nine times out of 10, I was still working on my laptop. I was still posting shit. I wasn't able to fully detach and come down and don't do anything just don't. I didn't do shit for two days. Also hot as balls, uh, this past weekend. But yeah, I was just on the beach. I was spending time with my wife. I was with my brother-in-law like with family, um, my dog and I, I just did the least. Yeah. And by doing the least, I came back Monday. I felt like I could do the most.

Juan: 00:49:10 Yeah. Uh, there's a, there's a thing that I, that you said in there, like you took the two days. Uh, and I think it's helpful. Cause I used to be in the mindset of like planning it, planning the rest, like a Sunday or whatever you can also, so anyone that's listening to, you can also like micro come down. It doesn't have to be like, uh, there might be a couple hours maybe today or tomorrow. Uh, it doesn't have to be a planned everyday thing and not like a weekly thing. It can be scattered auto-regulate auto-regulate. So when you're like, you need to be, is it, it takes time to be aware of where you're at. Right? Cause uh, I might do it on a, on a micro basis. Like, Hey, I got three sessions today. Uh, I need to take these next 30 minutes to do nothing. Literally take a walk sometimes though I can't take a break for three days. But knowing that like, Hey, I'm in the fight, but that fourth day, like yours, I need to come down. Yeah. So if it helps anyone it's whenever the opportunity arises, take it. It doesn't have to be this. I don't like structured thing as well. I agree. I like that. Sometimes it's structured or sometimes it's not structured. That's just how goes as well.

Chase: 00:50:27 Auto regulating life man. So, so

Juan: 00:50:29 Important. It's difficult. Cause it's, it takes a lot of awareness on yourself and knowing yourself. Yeah. Which is very difficult. It's taken me 30 years.

Chase: 00:50:38 Yeah. I'm still getting put on myself. I'll be 35 next month. And yeah, like every day I'm like, shit, what's going on with chase? You know,

Juan: 00:50:46 Just knowing like, yo I gotta push today. Yeah. Or not push when, when the, when those opportunities are there not there, like when you were training, well, we got clients this month. I'm taking all of them because I don't know what next month is or if like, Hey, I'm chilling. Okay. I maybe I've been working too much. Let's enjoy the money that I made. Uh, gonna do no good sitting in the bank. Let me go do something. Let me go have an experience or something. Oh, absolutely man. Right. Yeah. Instead of getting in this rat race,

Chase: 00:51:16 You hit on something there too. Uh, I want to bring up another point of, uh, you did something that not a lot of people probably did during this time. You kind of chips all in, right?

Juan: 00:51:26 I mean, you opened up a facility, you left

Chase: 00:51:29 A job. I mean, that's stressful. I remember doing that three, three, four years ago. Um, and like I was building my new venture. I was exiting with a plan, not during a global pandemic, not during a lot of, you know, I hate the most cliche time where, you know, these days uncertainty. Um, how did you know? I mean, again, clearly you kind of have this warrior mentality, but like how did you know that now's the time that I need to do this? So

Juan: 00:51:58 I've, uh, I've tried a couple of times and there's been opportunities to where I've always wanted my own community. And that comes from what we've been talking about. Start from scratch, start from zero. I was fortunate enough to be part of a beautiful professional leadership adapt. That's challenging your adaptive qualities to become the best you at deuce gym. And that's what that place is. Um, I spent from 2015, so five, five, six years there. Oh wow. Uh, I was the performance director when I left. Um, I just felt that I needed to put myself through that to be fulfilled on my next job. And so like, this is what I'm going to be doing for the next 10 years or I can keep cruising and I started to feel comfortable at where I'm at. I do not like that at all. And I know that's kind of a dangerous trait of mine, but it's also my strength. Um, I just have always wanted that challenge of building from zero and last night I had a class of 24 people. I didn't know any of those people three weeks ago. It's insane. Uh, so it's just the opportunity that the, the correct opportunity, uh, was, and this is where preparation meets the, the time. So it luck,

Chase: 00:53:28 Right? Yeah. Right. It, you know, luck, isn't just blind. It happens when, uh, hard work meets opportunity or preparation meets timing, something like that. Yeah.

Juan: 00:53:37 So I have been prepping myself. Okay. Even the business side of it. So what do you do on like opening a business? You got to file. You've got to deal with the city, uh, liability insurance equipment right now is insane. Um, knowing how to find it, if you can find it building a culture and community and that all stems from your behavior in your words and how you carry yourself in your actions, how to like basics, how do you program, how do you program multiple, um, programs that are out in the world? The marketing part of it, all the things I finally felt ready. All right. I got these on luck. It's my turn to kind of prove to myself, um, and to a different community. So Hawthorne is mostly Latinos and African-Americans okay. Um, to where I think about my, my mom and since I'm bilingual and be can speak Spanish, I would go a lot. I need to use these skills, uh, to, to help kind of what kind of, where I came from you. You're

Chase: 00:54:39 Not just taking it for granted. No, it's, it's a gift.

Juan: 00:54:42 Yeah. Uh, so there's like, there's that side of it. I'm like, what, how can I, uh, how can I be in an area that's a little bit more of a fitness desert, Santa Monica, Venice. Yo, we got gym every half block where I'm at. There's not a lot of gyms. It's like, we got Inglewood, we got Linwood, we got competence down the street. Uh, Hawthorne. Obviously this is a little pocket where it's starting to bubble because we got the form down the street and then the, uh, Rams stadium down the street. Okay. Okay. Got you. Yeah. Uh, so that was, uh, also another thing that was pushing me forward and I'm very proud to where we own the building and we own the business. So Mike aggress, um, so it's a very special for me, especially with, and uh, my mom and I have a meal prep company as well.

Juan: 00:55:28 Oh shit. So we're running these two things. Moms meal, prep, meal, prep, mom. I see Ben posts all the time. So me and my it's literally a mom is my mom in the kitchen. It's my mom, my sister and the high school friends. So they're learning about business, um, the learning, how to make their own money. Uh, and they're, they're helping my mom and I get to interact with my mom even more on a daily basis because we're talking about all these things and the gift of giving your mom stacks of cash. He's so dope. She's had to put up with so much on my shit, man. Uh, so like as beautiful. I, I can't be happier. Like I'm, I'm chilling.

Chase: 00:56:09 The second I met you like coming in, like, I mean, we met before, but like specifically today, like I can just tell where you are in life in so many ways is just like, you can't hide it. It's coming through, um, like the next, the next season, I think you're stepping into, like, it seems you're very aware of it, but like it's, it's meant to be it's there on every level. Um, not only for everything that you have earned and gone through, but you're, again, you're not taking that for granted. You are now passing that off to other people. Uh, your team, your employees, your mom, like everybody walking through that hires you, um, like it's a learning experience. They're not just getting that thing. They're here for today, but they're getting the years before they're getting your crucible along with going through their own.

Juan: 00:56:54 Yeah. It's fun. It's super fun. I can't be in contact with everyone. Like if we need a bunch of us. Right. And I think sometimes trainers or coaches or gym, people are like trying to like, Oh, these are all my people. You can't train everyone. There's way too many people over that. Yeah. I don't want to fight that fight. I want to try to build more people that think like we do and are open for challenges and are always kind of testing ourselves and passing that along and, and in a loving, compassionate way, pushing your homie. Yeah. You know, and not, not allowing your friends did to not live life at the fullest. Um, because I know what that feels like. I know how happy I am and I want others to feel like that, especially in contrast that and see what other people are going through with only dude, I got nothing to complain about. Nothing to complain about. I needed that, except that, uh, weights are $3 a pound. That's the only thing I'm going to complain about supply and demand right now. It's a bad dude. There's some underground shit having, I don't know if you're on the internet, but some underground, she had been wild just driving all over the city like this. Guy's got this guy, this thing, and it's nuts.

Chase: 00:58:15 I can only imagine. Um, do what's been so good having you on here, man? Like that last point you just said, I think it's a great transition to my final question for everybody is, you know, ever Ford ever horde radio, um, you'll probably appreciate this more actually has a really strong military background, um, ever forward was his mantra that my dad said and instilled in us our whole lives growing up. Uh, it's something that he lived through and set the example during an 18 month terminal illness, he passed away in 2005. Um, but he actually picked it up from his time in the military. He picked it up from his crucible, his first unit there, creed was ever forward. It's on their distinguished unit and Signia, it's been there since like the 17 hundreds and coming from a time when we were not even a country, yet of men picking up rifles and pitchforks and like defending, going through their crucibles hundreds of years later now passing it on to a man that came home one day after bootcamp and instilled it in me and it's become my entire purpose now. Um, so my whole platform, my whole purpose being comes from that crucible and that loss and the pain and the suffering, but recognizing there's a gift in there. Yeah. So what does that mean to you? I'm always curious those two words, every guest that I have on. And what does it, what does that mean to you? How do you live a life ever forward?

Juan: 00:59:32 Uh, I think it goes, it means to me what we've been talking about and to, to stay in the fight and keep, keep doing the thing that you feel is moving the needle forward in your life. Cause you can't afford not to. Right. What, what tie in a life? Wha how are you going to look yourself at the end of the day in the mirror or in all your actions in, especially maybe looking back on all your own personal content? Like what have I done with my life or how have I tested myself? And I think without that test, or without that contrast, you're not going to have that happiness and that fulfillment of striving. I think striving the, the better thing, not necessarily a con missing the accomplishment that you were aiming for, but striving because you're going to learn so much in that. So to me it means stay in the fight, keep moving forward so that you can look at yourself and tell yourself that you are a worthy human being. You deserve this life. You deserve to be happy. You you've earned

Chase: 01:00:46 Hell. Yeah, absolutely. Man, dude, uh, obviously going to have all of the information down the show notes and video notes for everybody, but like where can they go right here right now to learn more about you and what you got going on,

Juan: 01:00:56 Active on, uh, social media, Instagram on JL Guatama the spelling out would probably make it easier to just click there and hopefully I can provide a little bit of a motivation and help for everyone to talk. Let me know in the new gym is sorta HQ in Hawthorne, come visit. We got, we got a quarter pipe, we got a mini ramp. We got a bunch of toys. It's like fantasy factory. So fantasy

Chase: 01:01:24 The factory meets fitness. Yes. Yes. Fitness factory fitness factory, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks again for coming on, man. Pleasure. Appreciate you.