EFR 781: How to Stay Motivated, Break Mental Barriers, and Embrace What Scares You the Most with Kenny Santucci

00:00 - Speaker 1 The following is an operation podcast production.

00:04 - Speaker 2 For me there's if I always go with my gut with everything, and if it doesn't scare you and overwhelm you and excite you all at the same time, I don't think it's worth doing. Yeah, I think any anything feels daunting at first. You look at something new and you don't know, even know where to start. But I think the more you get good at it, then that becomes what your, your niche is.

00:31 that becomes what you the advice that I give to anybody who walks into my gym is you want to do too much too soon, where it's like you've done zero up to this point you're 3540 years old, whatever it may be and now you're like I'm going to go from zero to 1000. Yeah, I'm going to go from never doing shit I've never even sniffed the inside of a gym to now. I'm going to do this six days a week. My encouragement to everybody out there is just fucking start, whether even if it's February or March and you still haven't started yet. Start now, start, then start whenever it is when, every time, any time, you get that fucking crazy idea in your head. Hey guys, kenny Santucci, trainer, gym owner and the owner of Strong New York and this is ever forward radio.

01:13 - Speaker 1 Today's episode is brought to exclusively by bio pro plus, the bio identical alternative to human growth hormone. If you're looking for something to level up your anti aging metabolism, libido, immune system, skin cognition or even sleep and stress, let me put you on to bio pro plus. See, it's all about growth factors. They are the end results of HGH growth hormone after it's metabolized by the liver and sent out into the bloodstream. And since bio pro plus is 100% non synthetic, it works without causing any of the negative side effects of the typical synthetic prescription hormone treatment. That means no needles, no side effects, 100% safe. I was so impressed by how I felt after my month recently getting done with bio pro plus my first month and in fact I had some labs drawn it might. Testosterone jumped about 200 points, so I knew that I was feeling better. But man, you can't deny these numbers. Not to mention guys. Wow, definite boost in libido. I'm 38 years old, waking up now feeling like I'm 18 years old. So if you'd like to save it $30 on bio pro plus, simply head to bio protein techcom and use code ever forward to check out, linked for you as always down under episode resources in today's show notes. This is your number one source for inspiring content from people who are putting a purpose to their passion and truly living a life ever forward. I am your host, chase tuning. This is ever forward radio Might recognize the name.

02:55 Kenny actually is joining me again on the show here today. He sat down with me about four years ago in episode 245, episode titled real fitness in the real world real world being keywords there, you might recognize him from the real world and all the challenge shows from years ago. Kenny's journey in the fitness space didn't stop there. He's the founder of strong New York New York Strength Club. He's doing amazing things and building and strengthening communities both in New York City and all over the world through his online communities. I mean he's he's a no bullshit guy through and through. I love sitting down with him here in person in New York. If you want to check out the video, I have it linked for you down in the show notes always available at ever forward radio. Calm and subscribe to us on YouTube. Just go to YouTube and search ever forward radio. You're going to find Kenny and I in this really mindset driven approach to to fitness, to our goals, and just the bullshit, really the excuses that we often tell ourselves and the things that get in the way of what we want, of what we think we're worthy of. And he's here to just set the record straight, straight up Love strong, new York.

04:02 I was there in 2023. We actually set up shop right next to the stage. We had a great little mini series. You guys want to check out those episodes? I'll link them for you down in the show notes. We had four great episodes from a lot of the speakers that were there. You're in for a real treat today. If you're struggling with motivation, struggling with adherence or just wondering what is the switch I need to flip, to stay focused and to stay on track for whatever my most important work is before me, this episode, my friend, is going to do it for you.

04:33 - Speaker 2 I thought anything was wrong.

04:34 - Speaker 1 I'm trying to look great on camera. That's just the magic 4k and 4k filters. But, kenny, it's been like four, almost five years since you've been back on the show man.

04:45 - Speaker 2 Yeah, and we did it in like a little coffee shop.

04:48 - Speaker 1 Yeah, like across from your apartment and just like took over a couch and just kind of getting to know you then and saying in touch with you. Over the years, man, it's been just love seeing what you're doing here in New York for the New York community, for the global community. Got to hang out with strong New York finally, for the first time a couple months ago, what do you think give me your honest opinion.

05:07 My honest opinion was it was more than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be kind of just like an expo we type thing, but the way that you had it partitioned up of panel speakers and then you could go do the workouts, people can compete, could do the thing, then you had the boost it was. It was more than I was originally expecting. I thought it was just going to be typical expo. We got to work on I would love to come back and do like the live podcast thing that we did. I got to work on a better setup. I was getting some bleed over from the stage, ok, but it's an easy. That's an easy fix. Yeah, I mean the speakers, the connection.

05:39 - Speaker 2 Yeah, we got to have like a green room, like one of the.

05:42 - Speaker 1 yeah, I'm for you.

05:44 - Speaker 2 I wanted to put you in the mix so that, like that's in the background, you know so we kind of got some shots like through the glass.

05:50 - Speaker 1 We could get a little bit there. But we'll work on it. But thanks for having me it was great.

05:54 - Speaker 2 I think it was when I was looking at other people because I wanted that aspect of it Right. I wanted people to come and like get other value out of being there. Right the speakers and the presenters to get on a big podcast. Yeah, obviously it helps you out because it gives you total win when yeah, and it gets them a little bit different exposure. People, you know, people probably didn't even know what the fucking podcast was, but they'll sit there and watch you guys chat.

06:21 - Speaker 1 Yeah.

06:21 - Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, so it was cool. I think I appreciate you coming by and doing your my pleasure.

06:26 - Speaker 1 Great. I'm going to start things off by actually a quote. Do you know this guy, dan Coe? He has a podcast called the Coe cast and he's big on Twitter, great writer, youtube, all the things. And I was kind of just sitting having some breakfast this morning and I saw this quote and he goes. Quote when starting something new, you feel you will feel overwhelmed. It's new, you aren't supposed to know what you're doing yet. If you can't accept overwhelm, you will never reach clarity. How do you feel about that messaging around overwhelm being necessary in order to get clarity? As we're talking here in the new year, I feel like this probably pertinent for a lot of people?

07:00 - Speaker 2 Yeah, for me there's. If I always go with my gut with everything, and if it doesn't scare you and overwhelm you and excite you all at the same time, I don't think it's worth doing. Yeah, I think any anything feels daunting at first. You look at something new and you don't know, even know where to start. But I think the more you get good at it, then that becomes what you are. Your niche is. That becomes what you are good at.

07:30 You know, I was just watching a podcast with Goggins and Huberman and they were talking about this part of your brain that grows when you start to do things that you don't like doing or feel comfortable doing. It grows the neural pathways and this certain part of your brain that helps you, you know, not only live longer, but also take on other tasks that you don't like to do. Right, so everything becomes easier when you start to do things that you don't like to do. So I think I've always been that type of person. I there's a lot of things I don't like doing that I'm like, if I just get this done, I'll be so much better after it. So what?

08:08 - Speaker 1 do you think comes first for most people, the, the worry about the physical difficulty and we'll say, you know, pursuit of health and fitness goals here, or like the mental aspect?

08:18 - Speaker 2 I think it's definitely mental with most people. You know the physical. After you watch somebody else do it, then it becomes a lot easier for most people to do it. I think it's the fear of walking into a situation that you don't feel completely comfortable and I think the more comfortable you could get with yourself. You know, and that's why I push health and wellness. You know there's so many people are always like well, what is?

08:42 - Speaker 1 a pusher. Everybody is a health pusher.

08:44 - Speaker 2 There's.

08:45 There's so many aspects of like why I do strong and why my heart's so in this thing, and one of them is to give people the the confidence to walk into certain situations that they don't feel comfortable in, and the gym is one of those places people walk I mean for myself, like I walk into a gym that I've never been to and you know you, whether people say they're not or they are.

09:13 When you walk into a room, especially a gym, and you have whatever you're wearing on, whether it's something scantily clad or fully dressed, people are sizing you up like guys do it all the time, girls do it all the time. So you walk into a gym and you're like, oh shit, I immediately feel uncomfortable and some people like that attention, that's why they go. And other people are like I just want to be left alone and do my thing and get out of here. So I think mostly for most people, I think it's the idea of like this is going to be a long journey and I don't even want to take the first step because I'm going to fail. So I try to convince people like it's just, you need to treat it like brushing your teeth, wiping your ass, you know any other hygiene? You just need to show up to the gym every day and not even think about it. Just go and do something.

10:04 - Speaker 1 Right now, as we're recording, it's January 2024. So I'm sure for a lot of people, maybe even you included, we got a lot of new year, new me, goals, aspirations on our mind. But being in the fitness, health and fitness industry yourself and a guy who takes care of yourself year after year, what have you seen, let's say, the end of the year? What have you seen as a goal that you think a lot of people set at the beginning, that they just completely underestimate come the end of the year and are probably not adhering?

10:33 - Speaker 2 Um, you know, I've been doing this a long time the 10 plus years and I've seen the trend definitely change. I think there's a lot of people who have adopted fitness as a lifestyle and as part of who they are over the years, especially comparing it to where I was like when I started, when I was I started working out in 1996. So it wasn't as many gyms, there wasn't as many much information available, it wasn't as many people going to the gym and over the years I've seen it definitely change. I think some of the big catalysts that I've noticed were social media had a huge impact on it, different celebrities adopting it and, you know, making it a mainstream thing. Crossfit, I would definitely think, has helped women predominantly adopt strength training and things like that. They made it more socially acceptable. But, yeah, over the years, I think there are people who are gonna get it done. They're like I'm gonna start.

11:41 Whether it's November, december, january, it doesn't matter, I'm gonna start right now. And I think that's my advice to everyone is to start as soon as you get the idea in your head. Just go and do it Like, don't even think about it, buy your membership, go to the gym, do whatever you need to do as soon as you possibly can. Don't wait for this shit. And I mean, what the fuck is the point of waiting? That you're only getting worse. But you know, I think with January and everybody getting so excited about it, I think you psych yourself out. And the advice that I give to anybody who walks into my gym is you wanna do too much too soon. Where it's like you've done zero up to this point, you're 35, 40 years old, whatever it may be, and now you're like I'm gonna go from zero to a thousand. I'm gonna go from never doing shit I've never even sniffed the inside of a gym to now. I'm gonna do this six days a week.

12:34 - Speaker 1 It's like I'm gonna go from worst shape of my life to best shape of my life. Why not go worst shape of my life to just a little better?

12:39 - Speaker 2 Yeah, and I tell people, start with one day, just try one fucking day a week, you know, and see if that works, and then, if one day gets easy, then you'll start to crave it a little bit more. You do two, three and so on and so forth, but it's like don't think you're gonna do all this. Everybody comes in the gym and is like I wanna look like Tiana Taylor or, fucking you know, beyonce, and I'm like do you realize? These women have been working out their whole fucking lives, decades. It's not even like a thing to them where they're like oh, maybe I'll do it today, maybe I won't. It's like no, it's part of who they are, it's part of their DNA. At this point, so my encouragement to everybody out there is just fucking start with her, even if it's February or March and you still haven't started yet. Start now, start, then start whenever it is, whenever you, anytime you get that fucking crazy idea in your head, just start.

13:26 - Speaker 1 I love he had to direct the camera on that one.

13:29 - Speaker 2 It's that important, everybody yeah it's crazy to me Like I, because I'm such a firm believer and this isn't something that started when fucking Instagram started Like, I've been a health and wellness advocate my whole life. I was very fat as a kid and that's where it all started and I felt very uncomfortable. Then Everybody was like, well, you haven't been heavy since you were a kid. I'm like, yes, but the most traumatic shit that could happen in your life that you'll remember forever. Like if I get picked on now or somebody makes fun of me now, I don't give a fucking 40, I'm fucking old.

14:01 - Speaker 1 You know it's about them. Yeah, you no longer think it's like my issue. Yeah.

14:04 - Speaker 2 Exactly I could decipher the fact like if somebody's yelling at me on the street, I'm like I don't know this, but I don't give a fuck. But like if you're a kid on the playground and somebody's picking on you, you feel that you like. That's the most.

14:15 - Speaker 1 Oh, it changes your entire view of the world, exactly For yourself.

14:18 - Speaker 2 Think about how many people go to fucking therapy still at 40, 50, 60 years old because of some shit that happened to them when they were seven.

14:25 - Speaker 1 Working through the childhood trauma. So which is?

14:26 - Speaker 2 good.

14:26 - Speaker 1 Yeah, which is great. Which is great I'm not knocking which is good to show you how long it sticks with you.

14:31 - Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm not knocking, I'm just saying like that's the most important, important time in your life and that's when you're the most vulnerable. So for me, it was a point of my life that I was the most vulnerable and I realized I'm like, well, fuck, nobody's going to help me with this. I have to do it for myself. So do it now, you know, and help the younger people, younger generation kids, especially kids like my niece and nephews. I encourage my brother and my sister. I'm like take them to the fucking gym now, get them used to it, make them think that this is what you should be doing. Just like you take them to fucking church on Sunday, take them to the gym and they should be working out, because they should realize that this is a part of life.

15:09 Because it definitely fucking scarred me. I mean, it's the only thing. I've dedicated my life to this because I'm like well, the worst thing to me in life is to be fat again. You know, and anybody who's like no, I love being a fat fuck. I'm like no, you don't. Nobody does. Nobody's like oh, this is great. I'm like fucking gut hangs over my pants. It's like it's uncomfortable. Trust me, I know, I was there.

15:30 - Speaker 1 I've been in my fat fuck phase for the last like a couple of weeks. The holidays, like where I'm at now, yes, is like this is. I'm like this is how it starts. You give up a little bit, you indulge, which is like you got to do it right. You know it's like travel holidays. You know, of course, you can find a way to make anything happen, but I've just been letting loose a little bit, a lot of it and for me, I'm like oh, this is, this is the worst that I want to feel.

15:54 - Speaker 2 Yeah, and I'm taking right back and you're in fucking great shape and you're like, oh, I feel like I was fishing for the compliment.

15:58 - Speaker 1 Yeah.

15:59 - Speaker 2 No, like, but think about it. There are people where it's I can't fathom. There are times when I'm scrolling through like dating sites and stuff, and I'm like it's so fucked up that I think like this, but at the same time I want to be like just let me help you Like. You're clearly on here because you want to get fucking laid. Wow, have a relationship.

16:17 - Speaker 1 If I just went love, he went happiness yeah.

16:19 - Speaker 2 And I want that for everybody. I think everybody should have that. But not looking like this. You're not going to get there like this. I could seriously open up your fucking dating world. Just give me three months or four months and dude.

16:32 - Speaker 1 I think the same. Thing.

16:33 - Speaker 2 Yeah, and people are like, oh, it's fucked up to think like that. I'm like you know what they're thinking the same thing. They just can't admit it to themselves. But like I know how I felt, you don't understand it until you've been there before, especially at a vulnerable point in your life. I think women after pregnancy have to deal with that. I think kids have to deal with that. I think people who are in front of an audience have to deal with that, like there's nowhere to hide, right? I was one of these people where I was like kind of constantly adjusting my shirt because my fat would like get my shirt would get stuck between my fat roll. I hated that. Like I know how uncomfortable I could be. I was 13, 14 years old and I was wearing the same size pants as my 45 year old father Wow, right. So like you think about that, you're like, oh, this is fucking bad.

17:16 - Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

17:16 - Speaker 2 Yeah, you know, and everybody else is. You know, when I remember those little sports cards that you get as a kid, they put your picture on there and then they put your oh yeah, yeah, like you're.

17:26 - Speaker 1 Like you're playing baseball. Yeah, like you're playing baseball. Yeah, you're an MLB guy, that's both card.

17:31 - Speaker 2 So I played basketball when I was like in fourth, fifth grade and I lied about my wheat. In fourth grade I was like 120 pounds and everybody else was like 65 pounds.

17:43 - Speaker 1 You were already that self-conscious and aware.

17:45 - Speaker 2 Yeah and I was that aware. Well, because they're weighing us in and then they're putting your profile on the back. You're like 85 pounds, yeah, and I erased the number and put a lighter weight and I'll never forget. I remember there was, what was I? 11, maybe 10 years old.

18:02 - Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

18:02 - Speaker 2 At the time and it was it hurt so much to like erase the number and put something else and I'm like I'm lying by like 15, 20 pounds.

18:11 - Speaker 1 And this is crazy. Can we crop this? Can we bring it?

18:13 - Speaker 2 just, you know, make up Like my like everybody else's basketball uniform was baggy, mine was like tight as shit. Yeah, so you, you, you feel it, you definitely. It's definitely scarred me for sure.

18:24 - Speaker 1 Well, you're doing fine now. Yeah, I mean, I've been on your path. You've been on your path. I see you work your ass off and I see you work the asses off of a lot of other people as weird as that sounds, but you know. But I love one of the things that I love most about what I see you and whole team of Strong New York do is you kind of and I'm wondering if this is intentional and how you go about it You're working on a very niche local community. You're building community, you're empowering the New York community, but also like a global community at the same time. How do you focus on helping the people closest to you, literally coming through your doors in the gym, and the ones that, like you're helping digitally all over the world, like, is there a different approach there? How do you help both?

19:02 - Speaker 2 I've been a gym owner and a trainer for yeah, it's over 10 years now. I opened my first gym over 10 years ago and what I tell everybody is everybody always wants more clients and everybody's fighting over the same fucking 10 people who do CrossFit or whatever it may be. There's so many people that need your help. There's 8 million people in the city. When you think about it, there's not enough gyms for all the people that are here. There's really not right.

19:29 All I need for my gym to be very successful is 250 people. If I had 250 people through my door every day, I'd be making money hand over fist. I'd be in a really good spot. I don't have that because there's not enough people doing fitness. So it's like when it becomes more and more mainstream, when people realize like, hey, I should be doing something, then I'll you know everybody will be doing fine. The gyms should be just as overfloating as some of these restaurants. Like when there's a two and a half hour wait for people to get fucking cookies and cupcakes and pastries and shit. Like you go to some of these restaurants on a weekend during brunch and there's a line down the block for people.

20:09 - Speaker 1 Oh, we'll wait 45 minutes. An hour, two hours, we'll wait 45 minutes I go, but you won't go to a fucking gym.

20:14 - Speaker 2 I want to start pulling some of these people.

20:15 - Speaker 1 You can get a workout while you're waiting.

20:17 - Speaker 2 Yes, you should come to the fucking gym and then go get this fucking pastry. It's crazy to me that people will wait in line for burgers and bullshit and they won't go to the gym.

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21:12 Now, prioritizing my sleep has been the number one thing for me, my personal wellness hierarchy, for the past probably five years, and I'm always doing all the things you know turning the temperature down, blackout, eye mask, reducing caffeine, cutoff time for eating and drinking and all the things. And I got to tell you I've tried a lot of things over the years, but when I tried BioPro Plus quarter sleep and just a matter of a couple days saw my heart rate variability increase by over 30 points Also, not to mention, I'm waking up even earlier than before and I don't even use an alarm clock, but my body is just so done with sleep. It is rested, it has gone through its adequate sleep cycles, I'm not waking up about 20 to 30 minutes earlier than I normally do, and it's great. I'm feeling great, I'm waking up energized and I'm getting more time back in my day. So I'm sold on BioPro Plus quarter sleep. What is it Okay? Well, it's a powerful, stress-reducing nighttime formula designed to combat poor and inadequate sleep by promoting a proper, deep and restorative sleep cycle rapid eye movement, your REM cycles.

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22:49 - Speaker 2 So everybody needs to realize that you have to focus on the people you have, and I think that's where my success has come from. Like somebody pointed out to me the other day, they're like yo, you've been doing this for 15 years. You are able to make a career out of this and provide for yourself for this long off of just owning your own business. And I was like fuck, I never even thought of it like that. That is pretty impressive, and I'm on this pathway because I've been reading this book about, like celebrating your wins what are you reading?

23:18 - Speaker 1 If you want to share?

23:19 - Speaker 2 Yes, hold on. It's that good, I don't read, I listen to audio books. Psycho cybernetics that's what it's called.

23:28 - Speaker 1 Psycho cybernetics. Oh my God, great book, great book, it's an older book.

23:33 - Speaker 2 It's not as you know. You hear the name and you're like, oh, is this some reason? No, it's from the 40s or 50s or something. Oh, wow, yeah, and a plastic surgeon wrote it. And it's basically the psychology of like understanding.

23:46 If somebody changes their face or somebody changes a part of their body, does that necessarily change their subconscious? Oh, your subconscious kind of rules. Whatever thing you do, like, if you have this self belief that you're still a fat kid, you know, then you're going to act like that, right. So it might not necessarily just be changing the body. You have to change your train of thought and like the way you look at yourself and feel about yourself. And one of the easiest ways to do this and one of the best takeaways that I've had from this is, you know, realizing that you have one and that you could continue to win.

24:20 So the fact that, like, can I say that again, please? Celebrating the fact that you have one and that you could continue to win, and I think that's one of those things that, like, people don't realize. They're like, well, I'm this and I'm that and I can't get out of this and I can't get out of that. That's not true, right, you're. So when you look at people, certain people let's just take a movie, for instance right Like you look at the cast and movie stars and you're like your first thought right. When I used to take acting classes, I would have thought everybody in the room would be beautiful. Everybody be just as attractive as Brad Pitt.

24:56 - Speaker 1 You got to be in order to be a movie star. Right To be a movie star.

24:59 - Speaker 2 But then you look around the room and you're like, oh my God, that guy's so fucking talented, he's really good, like he just convinced me that he was somebody else. And I'm sitting right here and he's a disaster of a man. He looks like dog shit, but he should be an actor. And there are so many people Like look at some of the best actors, like I always look at, for instance, me and my brother were talking about Danny DeVito. Here's this short, fat, ugly little guy who's had a career forever.

25:27 - Speaker 1 He's had TV shows for 60, 70, right.

25:30 - Speaker 2 He was on Taxi and then he was on.

25:32 - Speaker 1 Always Sunny.

25:33 - Speaker 2 Always Sunny in Philadelphia and then he had a huge movie career. I mean, this guy's been famous and if you've ever seen him in person, he can't be less attractive.

25:42 - Speaker 1 Now he's like the Jersey Mike subs. Yeah, like he's, but when you?

25:46 - Speaker 2 think about it right he never let what he looks like affect his trajectory.

25:52 That's the beauty of talent, right, yes, but that's a thing, but, like he believes, did you watch Arnold Documentary? Yeah, yeah, here's a guy who came from another country, has the worst accent still to this day, right? He never let anything stop that motherfucker. Anytime somebody's like who would you want to have dinner with? I'm like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I go because this guy has put himself at the top of three different fucking genres and he's synonymous with all three of them, right? Like when, governor of California, I can't name another one other than the current one. Yeah, yeah, then you know Arnold Schwarzenegger.

26:29 - Speaker 1 And that's for like shitty reasons. But yeah, yeah, the only reason I know the current guy is because he's a piece of shit.

26:36 - Speaker 2 But you know bodybuilding. You're like even if Chris Bumstead still, let's say he wins 10 more times, he's still not Arnold. I don't give a fuck what anybody says. The peak, he is the pinnacle. He is the fucking Hulk Hogan of. You know bodybuilding. And then when it comes to like movies, I'm like. It defined our generation.

26:59 - Speaker 1 Oh action stars. Yeah, predator.

27:01 - Speaker 2 Commando Terminator right Like those were massive movies. Kindergarten and Cobb, kindergarten and Cobb.

27:08 - Speaker 1 The talent, the transition yeah 80s and 90s.

27:10 - Speaker 2 He fucking ruled it, ruled it and there's nothing he doesn't touch, it doesn't turn to gold. So when you look at somebody like that, who had all the everything working against him and he still made it happen like there are so many people, there's so many examples out there that those people should not have won, but they believed in themselves and they won and they and it's the little wins, it's the little chipaways that happen. You know, even for myself, I'm like I still look at myself as like a fat kid from fucking New Jersey. I'm like I grew up in North New Jersey to a very, very blue collar family, like my family had nothing. And I'm like, here I am. I'm like, oh, I own a gym. And some people are like, well, you only own a small gym. I'm like, yeah, but I still have come so much further than anybody else in my family.

27:55 No one in my family worked in health and fitness. No one in my family could help me run a business. There was no one who could really guide me through this. I had to do it all myself and I had to figure it out and I lost a lot. You know, I lost money in my first gym. I lost my second gym I go, and this is my third time around. I'm just fucking relentless in the pursuit of like. Even if I lose this one, I'm going to go open another one, because that's all I know and that's all I want to do. So I'm just, that's the goal For me. It's just, and I have won before. I've done, you know, when I was on television, I won when I was in high school. And wrestling, I won when I was in college. Like the things I'm like. If I just fucking put all my effort towards this thing, I'm going to be good. I just started jujitsu back in May.

28:41 - Speaker 1 I saw that, yeah, did you diversify your fitness and wellness portfolio like a mofo?

28:47 - Speaker 2 So but like.

28:48 - Speaker 1 I see you at the range, I see you rolling yeah.

28:50 - Speaker 2 I try to do a fucking everything. I'm trying to just live my best life and I, if I ever do have kids or something, I want to be able to teach them a little bit of everything. I even started trying to play piano.

29:02 - Speaker 1 Really yeah.

29:03 - Speaker 2 And it's very hard for me because I'm so musically unencumbered.

29:06 - Speaker 1 That's funny. There's this kind of like a resurgence of a creative strain. We talk to a lot of people I know and they're just like yeah, I think I want to pick back up piano. I personally, I'm thinking about picking back up guitar. You should play guitar back in high school in like early 20s. I haven't touched one in like 10, 15 years and it's just I don't know. But now it's just like the age that we're at. We maybe have a lot of fulfillment in other areas. I mean, we need to like go back to kind of some things that you should fulfill us, I think people being more creative.

29:34 - Speaker 2 One opens up new neural pathways.

29:36 - Speaker 1 Yeah, absolutely.

29:37 - Speaker 2 You know, but when you're creating something, you just feel more valuable to the world, right Like if you could create something. You know that this is something you could share with other people Creating something out of nothing, quite literally. Yeah, yeah yeah, like I was an art major in college no shit, yeah, and I love like the whole shirt side of the business, like all the graphics and shit that we do Like that's just for me to. That came from your past. Yeah, no shit.

30:03 It's just like something I enjoy doing, like we don't really make any money on it, yeah.

30:06 - Speaker 1 Like everybody's like. Oh, there's your creative outlet.

30:08 - Speaker 2 Yeah, People are like oh, you must kill it on the shirts and shit. I'm like no, I actually lose money on it, but I just enjoy doing it and I keep doing it.

30:16 - Speaker 1 So so I'm going to go back to what you're kind of talking about a few moments to go about these kind of like simple steps and I love this recent post that you put up about transform become unrecognizable in six months.

30:27 - Speaker 2 Yeah.

30:28 - Speaker 1 And the things that you put up, you're recommending to people, you're coaching them on, are not wild outlandish, crazy shit you would think, to become unrecognizable in really a short period of time six months. You got to do the craziest shit every day, yeah, but I'm seeing you reduce, if not eliminate, alcohol. Do 40 pushups a day, connect with people. What is it about? The simple steps compounded that turn into some of the most transformational things anyone could ever do.

30:58 - Speaker 2 I think it's what we first started talking about was like this daunting task of like, looking down the road and be like, oh my God, there's so much to do in front of me. This is I have to do this every day. Stop looking at it every day and just on that day, do it Right, because you know who was it. It was a CrossFit athlete, josh Bridges. Josh Bridges was explaining. One time this is a long time ago. I wanted to go see him speak at like it was like water blues or the CrossFit games or something. Oh, yeah, and he was talking and he said you know, they were like how do you attack a chipper? Right, and it's always the way I thought of it. And you know, when you hear somebody say something the same way, you feel about it. You're like, oh, he's just reinforcing what I believe and that's why I like him. Yeah, and he's like well, everybody looks at a chipper and they're like looking at the whole board and they're they're like oh my God, there's so many exercises on this, but you can't do them all at once. You just need to do the one one and then another one, yeah, and then another one, yeah.

32:01 So when you look at your day. You're like all right, what do I have to get done today? Stop looking at the whole day. It's like OK, it's the more. I got to brush my teeth, After that I got to get ready and go to work, and after that I got to walk to work, you know. So stop looking at like oh, I got a meeting at 5 pm. Well, it's not here yet. You can't do anything. So fuck the meeting. Yeah, you know. So that's the way I look at life. I'm like all right, this is my hour, I'm going to handle this hour and then when the next hour comes up, I'll handle that. You know, and I think more people just need to look at it that way. Stop looking down the road and be like I have all this shit. I'm never going to be able to drink alcohol again. I'm not saying that. But the more times you say no to like the easy yes, like when you're like I, you know, stop saying fuck it all the time and just be like OK.

32:49 - Speaker 1 I know that this is not going to go. Why? Yeah, ask yourself why.

32:53 - Speaker 2 And especially during the week. It's like what are you getting fucked up for during the week? Have I done that before? Absolutely. I've been there before. I've done it and I think if that's what you need to do to get out of your system, go and do it. But at the end of the day, we're learning more and more about alcohol and you know, the information that's available now was an available 10, 20, 20 years ago. When we were in our 20s. Everybody had, you know, fucking Ed Hardy shirts on and we're buying bottles at stupid clubs and shit. No, I don't. I don't know if people do that. Do you know how to hang out with anybody?

33:24 - Speaker 1 I don't remember the last time I did that. I don't remember the last time I heard anybody even talk about as like oh, that's what I did over the weekend, yeah.

33:32 - Speaker 2 But that was like a huge thing for our generation. Oh yeah absolutely. Where it's like. I don't think people do that anymore and I think alcohol is now going to become like cigarettes right, like people when you, when you hear somebody smoke cigarettes, you're like when I see a certain person smoke.

33:47 - Speaker 1 I'm like like people still do that.

33:48 - Speaker 2 Yeah, it's so mind boggling to me. So I think people are going to start treating alcohol like that. But nowadays it's like I think it's just that task. It's like all right, I need to just make a better choice in this situation. At this moment, in this hour. I'm going to go get lunch oh, should I get a pause? And I'll get questions from clients all the time. Should I get pasta, should I get a salad or should I get a steak? And it's like what the fuck do you think I'm going to say? Right, did you need to text me and ask me that?

34:18 Yeah, Like you know the answer it's a fucking.

34:21 - Speaker 1 There's a glutton for punishment. You want me to yell at you? Sure, yeah.

34:24 - Speaker 2 And but that's the way I answer it, because I'm like I want you to feel real stupid in this moment, right In this moment. You know that the salad basically doesn't have any fucking value, and if it does, it's all fat.

34:36 - Speaker 1 Coach Kenny says what the fuck do you think?

34:40 - Speaker 2 And then the pasta is like come on, stupid, it's a middle of day, you have a fucking bowl of pasta. You know, if you, if you need it, that bad, say, for the weekend, yeah, and that's what I've tried to teach people how to do, because even my mom, like everybody's like, oh, you're kind of hard on certain clients and I'm like I'm hard on everyone across the board. I'm hard on myself. Start to me, I'm the worst to myself. You know, I'm always like I'm a fucking idiot. I fucked up on this, I fucked up on that. You have to like treat everybody across and that's why I love like comedy and stuff, right, yeah, because Nobody's safe.

35:14 A great comedian makes fun of everybody, you know and everything and everything like you can't just like, be like oh, I only pick on this one thing. It's like no, you pick on every and so when my clients come to me and they're like, oh, should I come in today? Just one of my clients today he was supposed to come in Sunday, miss Sunday, miss yesterday, miss Tuesday, he's like don't yell at me, I go listen, you're only fucking yourself, right? That's why you look like dog. Shit, I can't help you. It can't help the hopeless, right? You know where I'm at. You want, could I come in at four? You know I'm here at four. Come in at fucking four o'clock and we'll do it. But you're not gonna come in because you're a lazy fuck, you know. He's like all right, I'll see you at four o'clock. I'm like thank you.

35:54 - Speaker 1 Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo choo.

35:55 - Speaker 2 I'll see you there. And it's never even about that, Like, I'm not even like. Oh hey, I chose this career because one day I'm gonna own a boat and a house on the water. No, I don't know too many people in the fitness industry who do that, who have that type of shit.

36:10 - Speaker 1 And if they do, they're no longer really in the fitness industry.

36:12 - Speaker 2 Now they're not in the fucking entertainment world, right exactly.

36:17 - Speaker 1 They're on YouTube, maybe, fucking that type of money, you know, as we kind of look towards 2024, and someone who day in, day out, works in and honors his own health and fitness. I've got a list of a few trends that I believe are gonna be really kind of strongholds in, maybe just like social media, but I think, where we're kind of seeing a lot of people go towards loves to get your input, I see a lot of people shifting away from gym culture in a certain way, like it's not really as heavy bodybuilding, it's not as heavy like hard weights. It's still there a little bit, but I'm seeing this massive uptick in cardio and running like run clubs and even rocking, kind of going low intensity steady state training. Do you agree? Do you kind of see that happening as well?

37:01 - Speaker 2 Well, listen, I mean, there are so many people out there now who are like I'm a hybrid athlete, hybrid, hybrid athlete, so trending right now I go. You're a fucking crossfitter, that's crossfit, you know. At the end of the day it's like you missed the first wave. You're on the second wave. We're just calling it something different.

37:16 - Speaker 1 You're just not really doing power cleans all the time.

37:17 - Speaker 2 Because, you know, five years ago Matt Frazier was running four, five, 10 miles, 15 miles, you know, and then could go and deadlift 500 pounds. That's a hybrid athlete. Do you have a five minute mile and a 500 pound deadlift, like? I mean, there are so many guys out there who were doing that shit in crossfit and now everybody's calling it a hybrid athlete. Yeah, I think you're seeing a swing towards that long endurance and strength training. You know bodybuilding type thing.

37:49 - Speaker 1 I see the long endurance stuff more. I think it's being gravitated towards because it's less of a lone survivor kind of thing. It's usually groups, which I think there's another component of community and people finally coming together.

37:59 - Speaker 2 Yeah, I think the run club thing has become a huge thing. Like you know, four or five years ago, even 10 years ago, I was a part of the New York Roadrunners for you know a long time. Like if you wanted to go run with a group, you go run with the New York Roadrunners Nowadays there's like 15, and I follow them and I like what these guys are doing. You know they tend to run when I'm working. But I was even thinking to myself I'm like, oh, maybe I'll go run with one of these groups. I'll do like a four mile or a five mile run. And then there's like the Harto groups who are like you gotta sprint the whole five miles. I'm like, well, I'm not fucking doing that.

38:33 - Speaker 1 Why is it gonna be all or nothing?

38:35 - Speaker 2 And then there's other ones where it's like it's just community driven. I think people are looking for that. I think the craziest thing to me is when people are still fucking working out with apps and shit in their homes. It's like what are you doing? Get out, go meet people. I encourage people like join the run clubs, go to gyms, interact with people, because they're again. There's another part of your brain that needs to engage with other people to get stimulation stimulation.

39:03 - Speaker 1 What about one other kind of one of the trends I'm gonna bring up? 2023, in my opinion, was the year of besides a lot of things was optimization biomarkers.

39:14 Everybody and their brother was getting the most extensive expanded metabolic genetic tests that they could, which I'm all for. I think so many people suffer in silence and have these issues that pop up because they never even go a year, a couple of years and just get a baseline physical. So sometimes there's too much information I think a lot of people are getting access to and it begins to kind of be counterproductive and they stress out and worry and cause other problems. But I feel like a lot of people were getting those things done in 2023, but I feel like, because I had enough of them, now is the year of actually application, understanding application, instead of just hey, I got my panels, here's how much I rock or here's how much I suck. Now we're actually gonna be implementing them.

39:54 - Speaker 2 Yeah, I think I mean listen, if you are using it to your advantage and changing some of these things, and yes, that's a good thing, but there's also the data overload. There's people who have wearables, the rings, the watch all this bullshit, yeah.

40:06 - Speaker 1 I'm double dipping.

40:08 - Speaker 2 Yeah, you got all this stuff, but like I'm sure, but it doesn't rule my life.

40:11 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm sure it's a nudge every day.

40:12 - Speaker 2 I'm sure if you're a person who just, you're like all right, I have this information and I'm kind of keeping track of it, but whatever, there are other people who have this shit and they still look like fucking hell. I'm like it doesn't matter what wearable or what the data says. If you still know you're eating like shit, if you're not going to the gym, this stuff doesn't mean anything. No, no, no, no, no. But like, I encourage people all the time to get like blood work done. It was something that I've only done for the first time four years ago.

40:42 - Speaker 1 Really Three years ago. Yeah, so you're the person I'm talking about. Yeah, it's going years and years without getting physical, getting like labs.

40:49 - Speaker 2 I would never go. And I got a blood work done and I found that I have a cyst on my pituitary gland, Like they were. My testosterone levels were so low. Oh, wow, yeah, that they were like you need to go for a CAT scan. I go. Why would I need to go for a CAT scan with my testosterone?

41:04 - Speaker 1 Yeah, why are you freaking me out?

41:05 - Speaker 2 It's so low that there needs to be something wrong with your pituitary. So that's why I went for a CAT scan. Oh wow.

41:11 - Speaker 1 Yeah.

41:12 - Speaker 2 So now I need to get it checked like every like six to eight months.

41:14 - Speaker 1 Okay.

41:15 - Speaker 2 I have to go for a CAT scan on it. But you know you could play the oh my God I'm dying. But like there was a good two week period where I'm like they were like well, we have to check if it's.

41:24 - Speaker 1 Anything brain related of any medical professional said hey, get your brain checked out. Yeah, I'm freaking out a little bit.

41:29 - Speaker 2 Yeah Well, there was a two week period where I'm like they're like, well, we have to check if it's cancer or not and I'm like, oh fuck, brain cancer. That doesn't sound like a fucking good time. And I didn't even want to tell my mother because she's going to fucking lose it.

41:42 - Speaker 1 She's going to kill me. Yeah, if the thing in my brain does it, she will.

41:45 - Speaker 2 Yeah, because my dad passed away in 2019.

41:48 - Speaker 1 Yeah.

41:49 - Speaker 2 It was like 2021. And I'm like this is going to send this motherfucker to the real world. So I was like I should just keep this to myself, but I'm like dying inside because I'm like this is going to suck. I'm like what, what, and now you start evaluating. You're like what am I going to do before I die? Yeah, I'm like, how much do I have in the bank to really have a good time, you know?

42:07 - Speaker 1 Do what I think about it, but knock on wood. Thank God it wasn't anything, you're here with us.

42:11 - Speaker 2 Yeah, they're like just keep an eye on it, because if it does grow, then you can lose your fucking eyesight for it. You know, and it's like you got, they got to crack your skull open and and they say it's pretty common, like there are a lot of people who have it, so that's why they encourage people Like if your testosterone levels are coming back low or your HGH levels come back low, you should get a check. You know, even estrogen, there's a ton of stuff that your pituitary glands responsible for that, like if it's severely low, there could be something wrong.

42:41 - Speaker 1 I got a great labs company I'll I'll share with you off air. Can I recommend them enough? Just like you can get a great little snapshot, you can get the whole day on Bible of like your genetic coding, all it's incredible, great information.

42:53 - Speaker 2 But at the end of the day, you could get all the blood work you want done. If you're not doing this simplest shit, it doesn't fucking matter. Go to the gym, eat better, sleep as much as you can, you know.

43:07 - Speaker 1 And even whatever the labs do say. To a certain degree we're actually learning now the level to which that you can manipulate those things and even undo them, even things like what's in your genetic testing. You can actually undo a lot. You can rewrite your genetic coding to a certain degree.

43:23 - Speaker 2 I forget where I heard it, but and I don't, you know, obviously like you hear so much shit on the internet, but there was. They said 5% of your chances of you know mortality are from genetics. The rest is lifestyle. 95% is lifestyle. So it's like you could be like, oh I love. When you hear like some fat bastard, be like oh I whole family's fat, no shit, you're a victim or you're surrounded.

43:51 - Speaker 1 They all have diabetes. I have diabetes, high blood pressure. It's just victim mentality, yeah yeah, oh, that is the.

43:57 - Speaker 2 to me, that is the fucking worst, that there's nothing that makes my blood boil more Because I go. If I realized this at fucking 13, you could realize this at 33. Like, come on, don't give me that bullshit. Like, oh, my whole family's fat, okay, so why don't you not be fat? How's that Right? Yeah, yeah, and there can't be more information. I was just telling this story to somebody the other day. I was like at 13, in 1996, the only way I could learn about fitness is through a magazine. There was no internet and stuff. There was no blogs about this shit.

44:34 - Speaker 1 You couldn't just be in your bed at home like, okay, let me learn some stuff, maybe in secret and private that I'm curious about. You had to probably ask your parents hey, take me to the store, take me to the magazine shop, go out of your way.

44:45 - Speaker 2 I tell this story all the time. I would go to this magazine shop across the street from my high school and rip the pages out that I wanted to do the workouts in, or I'd steal the magazine. I was like because I couldn't ask my dad for a $7 magazine, or something because I want the workout in it. Damn man.

45:03 - Speaker 1 Well, dude, it's always a pleasure to see you, man. I appreciate you having me on dude, I love sitting down with you. You know, bullshit, attitude and approach is just so refreshing. And I love everything you guys are doing with Strong New York and I know we're early in the year now, but I saw you guys already announced it, it's my birthday, bro.

45:20 - Speaker 2 Are you coming out Apps to fucking Lulee. Yeah, it's gonna be sick, so we're gonna do it at the same spot.

45:24 We're gonna go to the house again and we're just gonna try to up the ante, which we're gonna try to do more, have bigger names there, Obviously, like we've had such a great group of people that have done it throughout the years and, you know, it's just a matter of like finding like who's really hot right now, what we could do to make it better and how we could service the community more. Like last year we had Rudy Reyes and we had the Garmin people do a free workout outside. So we want to keep doing like the free workout stuff just to provide for the people that are like, well, I can't afford the tickets, Like all right, well, I want to keep the price point a little higher because I want it to be more of an experience. I don't just want it, Like you said, I don't want it to just be an expo. I want people to come in, you know, network and engage and hang out and make it a fun experience.

46:12 And do yeah, and then space in New York at the end of the day is fucking expensive. Yeah, true, I don't have a 50,000 square foot venue that I could just be like. Yeah, everybody could come in for 20 bucks. It's like, no, I gotta keep it high and you gotta keep the. You know the event at a certain level Because it's.

46:29 - Speaker 1 What did they say about you know, they pay, they pay attention.

46:32 - Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

46:33 - Speaker 1 Especially when you're dealing with your health, your life 100%.

46:36 - Speaker 2 Like I pay for personal, I buy what I sell. I pay for a personal trainer and yesterday I had to be there and I'm like I'm there because I need that time and I want that time and I'm paying a premium for it. So I better show the fuck up. Absolutely, man.

46:49 - Speaker 1 Well, that mentality is exactly what EverFord radio is all about. It's what I mean when I say live a life, everford. I want to ask you those two words, everford, kenny, what do they mean to you, man?

47:00 - Speaker 2 You could always improve. No one's at the top of their game. You know you could look at the best athletes in the world. There's always some improvement that they could have made, something that they could have done different, you know. So if you're always looking to improve as a father, a friend, a brother, a you know a employee, a leader, whatever it is, it's like always move forward and try to do better. You know I hate this cancel culture, bullshit, where everybody wants to get, like, give people the opportunity to get better, give people an opportunity to change and improve and get better. I think that's whatever forward means to me.

47:39 - Speaker 1 There's never a right or wrong answer. I appreciate everyone's interpretation and you know, truly, every time I sit down with somebody, but especially when I get them back on the show, man, it's just a continuous learning and relearning and going back to basics for what got me here in the first place. And so it's so good to sit down with you again, man, and I'm grateful for our friendship over the years.

47:58 - Speaker 2 Congratulations on how much this has grown.

48:01 - Speaker 1 Yeah, thank you, man. Thank you, you know, I'll always sit down with you in the coffee house, no matter what. We can go back to the rest. Yeah, no, I listen.

48:07 - Speaker 2 When I was trying to find somebody who had a big podcast, I'm like, oh dude, I'm just gonna have him fuck.

48:12 - Speaker 1 I appreciate you, appreciate you, yeah, and we'll definitely be there again in October. I love being back in New York that time of year and, yeah, birthday celebrations for sure.

48:21 - Speaker 2 Yeah, we'll have a little cake for you, yeah.

48:26 - Speaker 1 For more information on everything you just heard, make sure to check this episode's show notes or head to everforwardradio.com