NOT born this way - The official podcast of the Iron Legion Strength Co. and NOT Born This Way brand apparel.

A lot of talk about worthiness in society today. “We are all worthy” is a common theme. Worthy of love, freedom and happiness? Yes. Worthy of success, financial freedom, strength and health? Not so much. That depends upon how much work you are willing to put in.

As adults, we are often accountable to ourselves, particularly when it comes to our personal goals and our personal health and fitness. There is a huge problem that comes with that. Today we’ll discuss that.

New Year. New goals. Awesome. Butt here is one very important thanks that you must do in order to achieve your New Year. New you goals.

Why a 30 day version of 75 HARD won’t work.

The challenge is completed. What now? It’s hard for many of us to keep focus and motivation when we’ve attained our goal, when we’ve reached the summit. Here’s what I’m planning to do and also my newfound approach to nutrition that I would recommend to anyone who wants to follow 75 HARD and the one that is going to take me to the next level of reduced bodyfat and increased muscle mass. Check it out-

Finished. Crushed it. Answering some of your questions about it. Diet. Workouts. Etc.

Day 73 comes with some surprising realizations. Give it a listen.

We wait for other people to believe in our ideas. We want them to be as enthusiastic as we are. We are deflated when they aren’t. Stop doing that. Here’s why we don’t need that approval. We don’t need that support and more importantly, here is why we shouldn’t expect it.

My thoughts and feedback after 59 days of the 75 HARD mental toughness challenge.

The man in the arena is my favorite quote of all time. I mentioned it today in the podcast as we discussed how we often want to wait until we are the best or until we feel like we are “qualified” to do the thing. To enter the contest, to write the book, to start the business. We can’t understand how someone could be possibly be inspired by us if we aren’t the best or a world record holder. In my experience, I have found quite the contrary. Sometimes the most people I find the most inspirational people to be the ones who aren’t necessarily the “best” but the ones who have overcome the most challenging circumstances.

75 Hard. It’s a thing. It’s awesome. Everyone is doing it. Most people don’t complete it. Here’s why and here’s how to avoid that.

What does it really take to truly master something and to really be considered an expert? Is it necessary?

I was going to title this “It’s never too late” because that was something I said in the podcast. But in reality, there will come a day when it is too late to do that thing that you’ve always wanted to do. So do it now, before it is too late. (Note: Sound quality isn’t great on this one but the content was worth publishing.) Enjoy!

We avoid so many things because they are potentially uncomfortable. I’ve done this often. But avoiding things that are uncomfortable can severely limit us. Reminding myself of the phrase “Discomfort can’t hurt me” has helped me to push through many uncomfortable situations.

In the fighting arts there is an expression. “Don’t accept the position.” Let’s discuss how that can relate to life.

I’ve always admired strength and toughness. As a kid I always looked up to men who I viewed as tough and strong and wished I could be like them. Deep inside though I knew I wasn’t that tough or that strong yet. Could I one day develop that? That was always a question for me.

If you listened to Part One you won’t want to miss Part Two. More about overcoming extreme adversity with Kaleigh Leighton.

The NOT Born This Way project is about overcoming. Kaleigh has a story of overcoming that is hard to hear and I can only imagine how hard it is to tell, but it is an important one. This is Part 1 of 2. This is real sh*t.

First of all, she’s awesome. Second of all, she’s a coach and her last name is Strong. Third of all, she shares her struggles with body image, eating and all that good stuff with us today. Please welcome Lauren Strong.

Coach Andrew Herman is a big part of the Iron Legion Strength Co.’s success. In this episode we chat about his humble beginnings in the weight room and his expert opinions and eating clean and getting strong.

Being a high level competitive athlete requires complete commitment and dedication, which is really cool until it isn’t.

We’ve all heard of the workout that will give us the “fighter’s body” or the person who said they want to have a “dancer’s body”. Let’s dive into that a little and see what is involved in getting these “bodies”.

I’ve always loved this prayer and now more than ever it seems appropriate.

Have you ever seen someone with a dog that’s a little, let’s say, “overfed”? You know what I mean. The dog that spends too much time on the couch and has a few too many leftovers from the dinner table? What do you think when you think about that dog’s owner and how her or she is treating that dog? Are they showing it too much love or not enough love?

We hate to do it, yet it is so incredibly powerful. The huge upside to putting our egos and fears aside and asking for help.

We can learn a lot from the little humans around us. In this episode we’ll discuss something that we have likely all been guilty of.

Why I didn’t touch a weight for 3 weeks, the “50 more” program and what habit I have had to eliminate.

A well-meaning expression, but one that I think can have the wrong effect on many people.

Fear is driving the majority of the decisions that people are making these days. In the face of uncertainty and fear, it’s important to make smart and strategic decisions, not just fear-based decisions. Now, more than ever, it’s about becoming bulletproof against all the things that threaten to destroy your health, your livelihood and even your way of life.

When the opportunity presents itself will you step up? Will you be ready?

“Realistic” is a four letter word in the goal setting space. Shouldn’t goals be out of reach? Something to shoot for? Absolutely. But they also must be in the realm of possibility or you will completely lose your mojo once you realize you have set a goal that may be unattainable.

Today I took Coach Julian for a ride in the Jeep and we talked about his introduction to strength as a kid in a local barn (freaking awesome) and his thoughts on all things strength. This is a must listen!

A global pandemic. Lockdowns. Elections. So many unknowns. So much uncertainty. How can we continue to pursue greatness, to chase our dreams and to live our lives in this time of fear?

The struggle for success seems very glamorous in movies. In real life it’s not so glamorous, it’s just struggle.

Hearing stories of success is always inspiring. We love to hear the hero’s journey, the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable obstacles that leads to victory. There are parts to success however, to achieving greatness, that we don’t hear about. One of those things is resentment. We don’t hear about how there are times during our quest that we begin to resent everything. We resent the sacrifice that it takes. We resent the things that we are missing in order to pursue our dreams. We resent those who aren’t making the same sacrifices. We begin to even resent the goal itself. We consider shrinking our goal, making the target more achievable. We consider taking the easier path. We consider being more like everyone else. Let’s talk about this today.

We always want to be properly prepared, to have the perfect game plan, to think it through. Often though, this is the perfect way to stall and never actually pull the trigger, a recipe for failure.

The fear of criticism, the fear of looking stupid, the fear of being the new guy is so limiting that it keeps many people from achieving their dreams. Don’t let that be the thing that holds you back.

The road to success seems glorious. It’s not. There will be massive levels of discomfort and pain en route to the better life that we desire. The faster we can accept that the sooner we will get there.

The optimal workout program will vary dramatically depending upon the individual. Today we’ll discuss those variables and how to manage them.

At some point in life we all had a dream. We dreamt of what our life would be like or who we would become. At this point, one of three things have happened. We’ve achieved that dream, we are actively working towards and progressing towards that dream or we have given up on that dream. Which one applies to you?

Anger is a powerful emotion if you can harness it to your advantage.

Today I had a great chat with Coach Jon Janson about how he got started, his personal transformation and the things that have made him successful in the gym and in life. This was a blast!

Some things we just don’t want to acknowledge.

In this episode, as usual I refer to it as the wrong episode number, but that’s to be expected by now. More importantly, we answer the commonly asked question “Why should I train or lift weights if I don’t have any specific goals that I want to accomplish?” Honestly most people don’t have aspirations to be competitive or to accomplish anything specific with their workouts. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t training for something. They aren’t just training to be a better worker- outer. This is about improving your quality of life and making every aspect of it better. That’s what this is about.

How we define success is a very important aspect of how we achieve it. How do we know when we are succeeding?

Every year I put up a meme that starts with this. The second line of the meme is “Unless it interferes with your goals then don’t have a s’more.” There is a lot of meaning behind this simple meme and although it’s meant to be humorous, there is a real message behind it too.

The number one mistake that almost everyone makes when it comes to managing their nutrition and how to correct it.

Every day lately it seems that more and more people are apologizing for having a hard time. We are apologizing for struggling with all that’s going on in the world right now. We are struggling with asking for help. We are struggling with admitting that we need help. Let’s discuss.