The MENtal Muscle-Up Podcast: The Cure For Mental Masturbation

🤔 EP058 - If there is a source of recurring pain in your life that you have been avoiding - perhaps to the point where you’ve become numb or even blind to it, what is the first step we must take to overcome our fears, enabling us to step up instead of shrinking and surrendering into the shadows of fear?“We read a bunch of books nowadays. As humans, we want to find out how to be someone else. What we don’t do is we don’t go inside. We’re writing a book every day of our lives, but we never read that book.” - David Goggins🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our EMOTIONAL Health & Fitness.Breakdown or breakthrough - I talk about this repeatedly in my classes. That moment in a set where you’re not sure if you can keep going, and you have a choice to make. Do you listen to the piece of shit voice in your head that says it’s too hard or do you listen to the other voice in your head that knows you can do one more rep or at the very least try?One of the men I respect most in my life, Mr. Philip Pape over at the Wits & Weights podcast once said, “When I talk about skepticism it’s not just questioning everything that comes AT you it’s questioning everything that comes FROM you - meaning we all have long-held beliefs, and they may be incorrect.”Confronting our fears is not easy, but it is necessary if growth is what you’re after. All fear begins with the story that generated it. If you want to overcome your fears, start by re-writing the stories that created them in the first place.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP057 - If upon honest and deep reflection you find that your life has plateaued and that you are not living up to your potential, what is one of the most potent power sources a man can possess that will allow him to face his fears, live just beyond his edge, and fulfill his potential in every area of life?“Good friends should not tolerate mediocrity in one another.” - David Deida, The Way of the Superior Man🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our RELATIONSHIP Health & Fitness.FACT -  Hitting a plateau in the gym is inevitable. We all know that. But what about when you plateau in everyday life?Noah Kagan said, “Everyone plateaus. What you do next is what counts.”If plateaus in every area of life are inevitable, the real question we need to answer is what do you do next when you’re not sure what to do next?🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP056 - If you’re having difficulty staying consistent with your training in the gym or you can’t even remember the last time you went, and as a result, you’ve either plateaued or started to slide backward in terms of how you look, feel, and perform, what is the Goldilocks Rule of Training, and how do we use it to make skipping workouts a thing of the past?“The sweet spot of desire occurs at the 50/50 split between success and failure.” - James Clear🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PHYSICAL Health & Fitness.FACT -  Every single day I have people (yogis) telling me that one of these days they’re going to try TRX. If I had a dollar for every person who says they’re going to come but don’t, this would be a podcast on how to get rich off of people’s broken promises.But why don’t they come? Are we as people inherently dishonest or is there something scaring us away from doing something we know we want and need to do? Until we solve the problems lurking below the surface we’ll never have the power to change our reality above the surface.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP055 - If you’re an entrepreneurial-minded individual with more ideas than you have time to work on - all of which are going to change the world, of course - what do you do when you’ve got two or more business ideas that you really want to pursue but you keep going back and forth about which one to commit to because you’re either scared of making the wrong choice or you just don’t know which one is the best choice?“If you can tune into your purpose and really align with it, setting goals so that your vision is an expression of that purpose, then life flows much more easily.” - Jack Canfield🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PURPOSE Health & Fitness.FACT -  It really sucks that both the health and fitness industry and the self-improvement industry continue to push this idea that success can happen virtually overnight. Even those who preach that there are no quick fixes contradict themselves by sharing ‘before and after’ stories of clients who have achieved amazing success in as little as a few months.One thing I come back to over and over again is that you’ll never get the right answers if you keep asking the wrong questions. As entrepreneurial-minded individuals, asking ourselves which idea will make the most money or which one is the “best idea” is the wrong question to be asking, one that will have you going around in circles for years or decades if you don’t start asking and answering the right questions.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP054 - If fear of failure, fear of success, or any other kind of fear has left you paralyzed and unable to step up and take the actions you need to take to succeed in any area of the REPP Work, what health and fitness strategy can we apply to master and ultimately conquer our fears?“We read a bunch of books nowadays. As humans, we want to find out how to be someone else. What we don’t do is we don’t go inside. We’re writing a book every day of our lives, but we never read that book.” - David Goggins🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our EMOTIONAL Health & Fitness.FACT - It never ceases to amaze me how we think that simply knowing what to do is the answer to our problems both inside and outside of the gym. But as Derek Sivers once said, “If more information were the answer then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.”A lot of us claim that it’s fear that is holding us prisoner - whatever version it happens to be. But blaming fear for our inaction is like blaming our metabolism for our lack of weight loss. There may be some truth to it, but at the end of the day, if you don’t find your way out of those handcuffs you’ll remain a prisoner to fear for the rest of your life.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP053 - If you’ve ever wondered why nothing you say or do seems to make things better when you’re witnessing your wife or partner have an emotional breakdown, and if offering solutions to her problems only seems to make matters worse, what is the skill we men need to practice and master to put out the emotional fires and keep the house that is our relationship from burning down right in front of our eyes?“A small change in what you see can lead to a big change in what you do.” - James Clear🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our RELATIONSHIP Health & Fitness.FACT - Every January, millions of people all over the world set a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. They want to start working out more and eating better so that they can look, feel, and perform their best. They tell themselves, “This is going to be the year!”.Well, I’ve got news for you. No, it’s not. And you know why? Because you’re using the same fucking bullshit strategy you have every year that has failed you every year.Unless you want to join the 70% percent of divorces that are initiated by women, it’s probably time to start looking for new ways of putting out the fires in your relationship instead of throwing gasoline on them because you simply don’t know what the fuck to do when you’re wife or partner is losing her shit.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP052 - If you’re one of the millions of people who say to themselves, “I need to do better” when it comes to your fitness, nutrition, or both because what you see on the scale and in the mirror makes you cringe a little, what is the single best exercise for shedding fat and building muscle so you can look, feel, and perform your best over the long term that I’ve never seen anyone doing at the gym?“When I talk about skepticism it’s not just questioning everything that comes AT you it’s questioning everything that comes FROM you - meaning we all have long-held beliefs, and they may be incorrect.” - Philip Pape, The Wits & Weights Podcast🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PHYSICAL Health & Fitness.FACT - One thing that breaks my heart as much as anything is seeing members in the gym that I haven’t seen for months or years who have totally fallen off the wagon. They’ve put on a ton of weight, and when I talk to them the shame they feel is palpable.What sucks even more is that when I hear them say, “I just need to do better.”, a part of me dies inside because I know that like most people, they’re going to continue to fail because they haven’t yet realized that they are not the problem. They keep failing because they keep using the same approach, and we all know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP051 - If you’re an entrepreneur with the goal of disrupting an entire industry because you’re tired of seeing people suffer from the bullshit advice they get from the so-called gurus, what is the unseen war we must wage and win over and over again to avoid taking our dreams to the grave with us?“Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine.” - James Clear🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PURPOSE Health & Fitness.FACT - One of the things that really sucks about losing weight is the longer you wait to do it the harder it is to get started. On top of that, there’s the obvious downfall of the amount of weight you put on increasing in proportion to the time you waste deciding to take action.When it comes to getting our message out there and doing what we love not only for profit but just as importantly for Purpose, the same rule applies. The longer you put shit off out of fear of failure the more your failure compounds, and one day you’ll wake up and realize that the work you have to do is substantially more than the work you should have done.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP050 - If you’re the type of guy who when faced with the reality that you need to make some changes, you say to yourself, “I just need to do better”, and yet you’ve been saying that for years and not much has actually gotten better, what is the very first and hardest step you need to take before you can ever have a hope in hell of changing that which you desperately want and need to change in your life?“You do control the thoughts that follow an emotion, and you have a great deal of say in how you react to an emotion - as long as you are aware of it.” - Travis Bradberry🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our EMOTIONAL Health & Fitness.FACT - There is one thing that drives me crazier than anything when I am teaching a group fitness class - when people refuse to listen to my instructions. Specifically, I have people who need to be dialing shit down but they refuse to listen, insist on playing at an intensity level way beyond what they are capable of only to quit early on the workout, or even worse, complain that it was too hard and never come back.Both inside and outside of the gym, unless and until we are honest with ourselves about where we’re at, when we need to dial it up and when we need to dial it back, and most importantly when we need help doing both, we're going to remain stranded on the lonely island of desperation wondering how the fuck we are ever going to get home to the truth of who we are.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP049 - If you’re a man who is consistently confused, irritated, and frustrated with the disconnect between you and your woman, what is the painful truth we men need to accept about the woman we love if we want to exist in a kingdom where we can rule as King and Queen working together as one?“Men and women are different but the problem with humans is that every difference is made into a discriminatory process.” - Sadhguru 🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our RELATIONSHIP Health & Fitness.FACT - As a Trainer, I can whole-heartedly attest to the fact that the majority of people who fail to lose weight will insist that what they are doing in terms of fitness and nutrition isn’t working when we all know what the real problem is. The real problem isn't the diet or the training program. It’s the individual’s unwillingness to see the facts and accept the truth that THEY are the problem, not the diet or workout program.The same goes for relationships. I have made the mistake of thinking that my partner - her moods, her behavior, her emotional rollercoasters - are the reasons why I cheated or why it didn’t work out.At the end of the day, there are truths we need to accept as individuals and as men, not the least of which is that if we want anything to change, that change begins with us and what we tell ourselves about the challenges we face in our relationship.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔  If you’re a man who’s willing to admit that your physical health plays a critical role in your overall quality of life, today’s episode is for you as we be asking and answering the following MMU Question of the Day…What level are you playing at when it comes to how your body looks, feels, and performs?“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”  - John F. Kennedy🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PHYSICAL Health & Fitness.FACT - If awareness is the first step towards improving every area of our lives, what are the key components of awareness? Truth and transparency.One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Richard Feynman who said this:“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”Regular review reflection will lead us to a crossroads, one where we have a choice to continue on the path we are currently on or choose another. Without regular review and reflection, we are traveling in the dark, not knowing the direction we are headed or where we’ll end up.I don’t know about you, but when I wake up in the morning and reflect on the life I have lived and the life I am living, I want to not only be crystal fucking clear on where I am headed, but crystal fucking clear that the path I am on is going to take me exactly where I want to go.👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔  If you’ve even remotely contemplated the idea that you have a life purpose and that one of the secrets to living a successful life is finding and fulfilling that purpose, today’s episode is for you as we be asking and answering the following:MMU Question of the Day - What level are you playing at when it comes to living a life that is on purpose with purpose?“Without knowing his life-purpose a man lives a weakened, impotent existence, perhaps eventually becoming even sexually impotent, or prone to mechanical and disinterested sex.” - David Deida🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PURPOSE Health & Fitness.FACT - Nothing is worse than an impotent man. I’m not talking physically. I’m talking about the man who can’t get it up when it comes to having something he is working towards that is bigger than himself. A man who never experiences the emotional orgasm that comes (pun intended) through creation alone. A man who simply goes through the motions day in and day out denying himself and his loved ones of the gifts only he can give the world. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔  Unless you want to be blindsided by a wife who wants to divorce you or a depression that will cripple you, you’ll want to listen to today’s episode in its entirety as we be asking and answering the following:MMU Question of the Day - What level are you playing at when it comes to the one thing that stands at the core of every relationship you have, every business venture you’ll embark on, and every diet and training program you’ll sign up for? I am, of course, speaking of your level of EMOTIONAL Health & Fitness.“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” - Dale Carnegie🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our EMOTIONAL Health & Fitness.FACT - I cannot tell you how much it breaks my heart that the world ignores how important emotional health and fitness are. I can’t tell you the amount of harm I have caused to others and myself that, after careful examination with the help of professionals much smarter than me, could have been avoided if only I had the awareness, the tools, and the support to improve my level of emotional health and fitness.Men especially are guilty of skipping over emotion and going straight for logic. While this has proven over and over again to be a recipe for disaster in romantic relationships, the damage that stems from a lack of emotional health and fitness is most destructive in the relationship a man has with himself, for it is that relationship that determines the quality of everything in our lives 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔  What level are you playing at when it comes to cultivating and sustaining strong and healthy relationships with your partner, your Brothers, your family, and your Self? “The quality of your life ultimately depends on the quality of your relationships.”  - Esther Perel🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our RELATIONSHIP Health & Fitness.FACT - We all know that building a strong, healthy body requires two key ingredients: what you feed your body and how you move your body. Relationships are no different. The words you say and the actions you take will determine how strong or weak your relationship is.I don’t know about you, but whether it’s the strength of my body or the strength of my relationships, putting in the work to make sure I’m doing what it takes to have both be as strong as possible is some of the most important work we will ever do. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 Since men continue to fall behind, slip through cracks, and be demonized in some of the most damaging ways imaginable, what do we need to do on an individual, cultural, and global level to help raise men back up before it’s too late?“It is in the power of every individual to do that which the community as a whole is powerless to effect.” - William Thomas Stead🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing a hardcore compound lift of Relationship, Emotional, and Purpose Health & Fitness.Believe me when I say I know how hard it can be to find a good brother you can trust - someone you can be all of yourself with, someone who you can trust will be all of themselves with you, and someone who is willing to go to battle with you in the most intimate and life-changing ways.But as one of my dearest Brothers DP once said, “Good people are hard to find, but they shouldn’t be because they’re everywhere.”I would alter that slightly to say good men are hard to find but they shouldn’t be because they’re everywhere.What I would suggest is rather than trying to find good men to be around - men you can trust, rely on, and be inspired by - the best way to find those men is to become that man yourself and see who is willing and ready to follow.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there.Shout-out to my tow dear Brothers, George and J StamatelosGeorge - IG | IBI EP084 (Spotify | Apple)J Stamateols | Website | IBI EP089 (Spotify | Apple)👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP048 - If you’re trying to lose weight so you can look, feel, and perform your best, to weigh, or not to weigh, that is the question. If striving to hit your ideal weight is hindering your progress more than it is helping, what is an alternative metric to measure if the scale just ain’t cuttin’ it for you?“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” - Mark Twain🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PHYSICAL Health & Fitness.FACT - You know that learning toy we all played with as kids that had different shapes and we had to fit the right shapes in the right holes? It’s funny to me that kids who can barely speak can figure that out, yet the most educated people on the planet in the health and fitness world still haven’t figured out that using weight as a metric for health is like trying to fit the square peg in the round hole. No matter which way you turn it, it doesn’t fucking work.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there.Shout-out to the one and only Philip Pape over at the Wits & Weights PodcastEP215 - Why Weight Loss Always Fails (But Don’t Ditch the Scale Yet)Apple | Spotify 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP047 - If you’re an entrepreneur who is in the process of building your business or empire, since the road to success as an entrepreneur is fraught with failure, what do you need to focus on first and foremost so that your string of endless struggles does not devour your potential for prosperity?“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PURPOSE Health & Fitness.FACT - Most people who workout have their one or two favorite exercises or even complete workouts - those ones we always look forward to, and help us get our ass to the gym when we don’t feel like going.In business, knowing what you truly value, what truly brings you to life, what truly expresses your unique talents, and gives you the best emotional pump possible is critical if we ever hope to remain in the game long enough to win.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP046 - If you’re at a point where you’re not sure if you can handle any more of the emotional curveballs life keeps throwing you, and you want to put an end to emotional suffering once and for all - not pain…let me be clear because as the saying goes, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional” - how the fuck do you even begin to go about doing it?"When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.” - Alan Paton🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our EMOTIONAL Health & Fitness.FACT - Emotional pain is, in my experience, one of the worst forms of pain there is. It’s not like in the gym where you feel amazing a few seconds after the burn from a solid set goes away. Emotional pain lingers, and if we’re not careful, it can turn into emotional injuries and emotional scars that last for years or even a lifetime. As with physical pain, if we ignore it long enough it soon turns into an injury. Emotional pain is no different. When we ignore it or refuse to treat it, it soon turns into suffering, which is a lot harder to recover from.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP045 - If you’re in a long-term committed romantic relationship what can you do if your partner does not support your goals, does not encourage you to become a better version of yourself, and is holding you back from being your true authentic self? “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” - Reinhold Neiburh🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our RELATIONSHIP Health & Fitness.FACT - Romantic relationships are one of the best representations of training partners in the gym. When both partners are pushing and encouraging the other, new levels of strength and breaking through plateaus are inevitable. But when just one partner doesn’t feel like pushing themselves or the other, the workout suffers and nobody gets stronger.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show

🤔 EP044 - If you’re like me and you’re beyond tired of all the hypie bullshit being spewed out there when it comes to fitness and nutrition, how do you filter the amateurs from the pros when looking for a coach for what is arguably the most important variable for living a happy and complete life - your PHYSICAL health and fitness? “Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players and motivate.” - Vince Lombardi🎙️ In today’s PodWod, we be crushing our PHYSICAL Health & Fitness.FACT - There is absolutely no getting around the snake-oil salesmen of the world, and few places are there more of them slithering around in the weeds than in the health and fitness industry.However, not all bad advice comes from bad people. Many of the very well-intentioned coaches out there have become accustomed to luring people in with shiny claims, shirtless videos, and shady marketing tactics. Being able to decipher between who’s legit and who’s full of shit is a skill we all need to acquire.🤝 Help a Brotha Out! If you find value in today’s PodWod, please help others who may need to hear today’s message by rating and reviewing the podcast. A minute or two of your time could help save a lifetime of suffering for one of our fellow Brothers out there. 👉🏾 Feel free to hit me up on IG and let me know if you need a spot. 👊🏾 Until next time, we got this!Support the show