359 Beyond the Body: What Makes a Real Man with Fitness Icon Steve Cook

"Your body is an instrument, not an ornament." - Steve Cook If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/359 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is episode number 359 with Steve Cook.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Speaker 00

  What's up everyone? Thanks so much for tuning in today. And did you guys see the big announcement? That's right, the big announcement. We released half of the speakers' names on Summit of Greatness. That's right, we've got a ton of people already signed up from all over the world, who are going to be flying into the heart of it all, Columbus, Ohio, to attend the first annual Summit of Greatness event. This is for people that want to reach their ultimate human potential. This is for people that want to connect with other like-minded individuals, and that want to build lifelong relationships. This is for those that want to connect with some of the most inspiring speakers and influencers in the world. Summitofgreatness.com. Do you guys have your tickets yet?

• 1:15Speaker 00

  If not, the ticket price is going up this weekend, so make sure to sign up right now. Go to Summitofgreatness.com and check out all of the incredible speakers. I think four of the five are New York Times bestselling authors. We've got TV personalities, we've got billionaires, we've got world-class individuals in business, relationships, lifestyle, spirituality. Go check out who the speakers are. Summitofgreatness.com. I don't want to spoil it for you right now, but go to Summitofgreatness.com, check out the speakers, and get your ticket today. Now, just recently, I met this guy, Steve Cook. And let me tell you something, Steve is an incredible human being.

• 1:55Speaker 00

  Steve is one of the most recognizable faces in the fitness industry today. He is best noted for being an IFBB Pro Men's Physique Competitor, Optimum Nutrition and Bodybuilding.com spokesmodel.

• 2:10Speaker 00

  An international fitness personality as well as the founder of Swoolder Nation. That's right, let's get swole. He is also the third person ever to obtain his men's physique pro card. First ever men's physique competitor to qualify for the Mr. Olympia and so much more. The guy is also a super positive individual. He's got over a million people that follow him on Instagram, over half a million on YouTube, almost a million on Facebook, and he has just built an amazing empire online. And that's some of the things that we're going to talk about today is really how he builds such a huge social media following that doesn't also control and consume his entire life so he can still have a life.

• 2:51Speaker 00

  We dive into masculinity and talk about his definition of masculinity and it was, in my opinion, the most beautiful way I've ever heard someone define masculinity. I really loved it, so make sure to listen to that and share that, tweet that part out. We also dive into how to course correct when you feel anxiety or overwhelmed in your personal life, in your business life, when you're building something. Steve talks about why he's looking for a girlfriend and also why he won't go on The Bachelor Show. Also, the importance of balancing multiple different platforms when building your following and growing your business, why that's so important. We talk about that and so much more on today's episode 359.

• 3:35Speaker 00

  Make sure to follow along and share this with your friends right now, lewishouse.com/359. Watch the full video interview also over there, all the show notes, you can connect with Steve and check out all the clickable tweets to share out with your friends, all the great quotes that Steve talks about in this interview. Without further ado, let me introduce to you the one, the only, Steve Cook.

• 4:02Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greats Podcast. We've got the legendary Steve Cook in the house. Good to see you, man.

• 4:07Speaker 02

  Good to be here. Legendary. That's an amazing intro.

• 4:10Lewis Howes?

  That's good, right? Yeah. We just met recently through Steve Weatherford, who we just had on recently as well. And I think I'd heard about you maybe a year or something ago, seeing you on Bodybuilding.com or some fitness thing. I was like, this guy kinda looks like a douche. But then, but I don't like to judge people until I actually meet them. So I was like, let me meet this guy someday and see what he's really like. And then Steve told me to connect and come out and have lunch with you. And I kinda forgot that I thought about that a year ago, whatever.

• 4:37Speaker 02

  I like that.

• 4:37Lewis Howes?

  But then I met you, I was like, I mean, this guy's a really good dude.

• 4:40Speaker 02

  And don't get me wrong, we still do douchey things because I like to, I like to say, you know, there's that certain, there's, there's feeding apple. I always like to say, like, the people that follow me, you know, we hide the peas and the carrots in the apple sauce.

• 4:53Lewis Howes?

  Right, exactly.

• 4:54Speaker 02

  So in this day and age, there is a certain level of douchiness, I think, that people, but you know, and we, we make fun of it.

• 4:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 5:00Speaker 02

  We have a good time with it, but um, that's funny.

• 5:02Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. Well, you've got like shirts that say that too, right?

• 5:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, Jim Douche. Snapchat. Talk about Jim Douche. I get a really awesome voice. We start talking like this, like pretty much a dodgeball.

• 5:13Lewis Howes?

  I like it. I like it, man. How did you get started in the whole fitness world? You know, you've got this huge audience. You've got millions of followers all over the world. Face of Bodybuilding.com. You've got huge supplement deals, sponsorship deals, blown up on YouTube. How did this all begin? Were you always like a fit dude or just start off skinny and say, I need to, you know, get big?

• 5:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't have a cool like transformation story like a lot of people do. I was one of seven kids in Idaho growing up and my dad was a high school athletic director and basketball coach. So I was kind of in the middle of those seven kids and I had a lot of energy. I was a troublemaker. So my dad from the very get go, instead of, you know, maybe other parents don't know how to discipline. It's like, you know, I'm gonna work them today. So we would go to the track. Yep. We'd go to the track. If I wanted to watch TV, 50 pushups every commercial from the time I was like eight, nine, 10.

• 6:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's a nice dad to put you through that.

• 6:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, at the time, I didn't think he was nice, but uh, you know, now I'm very grateful for that and I I think for me, it was one of those things that I naturally had a capacity for that kind of stuff as well. And I took to, I took to it really well. Like, I remember my older brother, um, working out. I was in eighth grade. He was a senior. And I benched more than him because, you know, I liked doing the pushups. I didn't mind it. My dad saw that. So I think he kind of pushed me into that. But, uh, you know, there was some, some, some natural love of it too.

• 6:31Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Okay. When did you start really lifting?

• 6:34Speaker 02

  Really lifting? Probably, I can remember being sixth grade, sixth, no, fifth.

• 6:41Lewis Howes?

  Ten, eleven years old?

• 6:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:42Lewis Howes?

  That's pretty young.

• 6:43Speaker 02

  It was young and everyone used to always say, you know, it would stunt your growth and this and that. But I started off doing the body weight stuff. So pushups, pullups, situps.

• 6:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:51Speaker 02

  And I think, you know, I, I, you know, the next step was just evolving into machines.

• 6:56Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  And then.

• 6:57Lewis Howes?

  The bar, whatever.

• 6:58Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 6:58Lewis Howes?

  That's cool, man. And what sports were your main sports in middle school, high school?

• 7:02Speaker 02

  I was, football was always my best sport. I was a football, baseball, basketball guy. And then in high school, I dropped baseball and did track for football. But I always wanted, you know, my dad was a basketball coach, brother, sister, good basketball players. I always wanted to be a better basketball player. I just, I was that guy who came in and I fouled people and rebounds and it was what it was.

• 7:24Lewis Howes?

  I like it. You're just the intimidator.

• 7:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:26Lewis Howes?

  I like it. Uh, and one of the fun facts that we found out about you, I don't know, you have to tell me if this is a myth, that you eat Chipotle four times a week.

• 7:34Speaker 02

  What are these? I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure there, there are weeks. I definitely don't like these days. Chipotle four times a week would not be more, right now it's Chick-fil-A actually.

• 7:43Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 7:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I get this. I just love Chick. There's one close to my place and I probably stopped there. I know the macros in the meal that I get. And it's part of my daily diet pretty much.

• 7:52Lewis Howes?

  Dude, I, uh, Chick-fil-A, I haven't had it in probably six years. I would eat that every week when I was playing arena football in Huntsville, Alabama. We would get like essentially like food stamps to play.

• 8:03Speaker 02

  Really?

• 8:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, they would, they would give us like free meals.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  Chick-fil-A.

• 8:06Lewis Howes?

  They'd pay us in Chick-fil-A and, uh, this bar we could join, they would eat and then firehouse subs, I remember.

• 8:11Speaker 02

  Really?

• 8:11Lewis Howes?

  Chick-fil-A, we'd have like, we'd be like trading, you know, the food stamps for like the other, like give me your Chick-fil-A for the barbecue.

• 8:18Speaker 02

  That is awesome.

• 8:19Lewis Howes?

  But we would get that, put the little. Hot sauce on it, man, it was so good.

• 8:22Speaker 02

  I love Chick-fil-A.

• 8:22Lewis Howes?

  I haven't had it in a long time. I just, it's hard to think about that. It's actually healthy for a good.

• 8:27Speaker 02

  I, I, I stick with the grilled chicken sandwich. I do a side of grilled nuggets and I don't, you know, and I know it's.

• 8:32Lewis Howes?

  It's not organic.

• 8:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, it's not. But, you know, again, it's, I, it's quick, it's easy and my lifestyle right now, as much as I'm traveling, it kind of fits. So, but yeah, definitely always, you know, if it was organic, maybe that's one thing we tell Chick-fil-A. Get some organic chicken.

• 8:47Lewis Howes?

  I think they're supposed to do something. I think Bonnie Hare, a friend of mine, is a food activist and she got Chick-fil-A to change something. Maybe it's no homo, no hormones or something in like the next few years or changing out of it, but.

• 8:58Speaker 02

  It sounds like I've heard something about that too.

• 8:59Lewis Howes?

  So, we'll see. Um, so when did you realize, so you played football at Dixie State, is that right?

• 9:06Speaker 02

  Dixie State College in Southern Utah.

• 9:08Lewis Howes?

  All four years you finished or did you stop after?

• 9:10Speaker 02

  So, no, I played, uh, so I started off at Boise State. It was a gray shirt there. I didn't go to class.

• 9:15Lewis Howes?

  A gray shirt, what is that?

• 9:17Speaker 02

  They don't even gray shirt people anymore.

• 9:18Lewis Howes?

  What is that?

• 9:19Speaker 02

  So, you're not actually, your clock hasn't started with the NCAA yet. Uh, I was a walk-on, preferred walk-on. I was a running back in high school and I just, I didn't have the quicks for running back in college. So, I was gonna try to play linebacker. They wanted me to gray shirt, came on and, you know, as a freshman, you don't have anyone really caring about you. You're a walk-on. And I just, I stopped going to class, ended up transferring to a place called Snow College in E from Utah. Like, my cellphone didn't work there. Turkeys, they had turkey farms and it was, it was an interesting place. I actually cried the first night. I, I, I moved into my place there. I'd never been before and I saw it, my cellphone wasn't working.

• 9:54Lewis Howes?

  You're like, I.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  Just where am I?

• 9:56Lewis Howes?

  Wrong decision. How long did you stay there?

• 9:58Speaker 02

  So, I was there for a year and a half and then ended up transferring to Dixie State, Division II school. They were a junior college. When I went there, they, first year being Division II, and we were awful. But I played all three years. Yeah, I started all three years. Uh, you know, I was, I was able to make captain my senior year, but I think we probably won four games.

• 10:16Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 10:16Speaker 02

  The, the, over the course of three years.

• 10:18Lewis Howes?

  Man, that's the worst. When you just lose every game. It's the worst feeling.

• 10:21Speaker 02

  I'd never been up, I, I, I don't think I'd ever had a losing record in any of the sports teams until I got there and, uh, you know, I learned a lot, but it was also, it was definitely hard.

• 10:30Lewis Howes?

  It's hard to break out of that. You know, I've been on championship teams and then teams that just sucked as well. And it's hard to change the momentum, to defeated every week, to being expired and excited and motivated to train harder to win. If you're not winning, it's really hard to just change that mindset that you can win.

• 10:48Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm. Both are habits, I think. You know, when you win, it's a habit, like, and you expect it, and when you lose, it's the same.

• 10:54Lewis Howes?

  The challenging thing is with a team sport, you can't really control everyone else's mindset. You can, for moments, inspire and lead by example and rally people around you, but it's gotta be a collective team that has the mindset and the coaches.

• 11:07Speaker 02

  And the coach. It starts with the coach. I agree with that. And I think that, you know, we had, we had some, some good guys on the team. It was just, it was, there was no real unity.

• 11:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 11:17Speaker 02

  And I think it starts with the coach.

• 11:19Lewis Howes?

  Challenging. Okay. So after school, what happened after school? Did you like, just like this heartthrob, whipped dude that said, I'm gonna be a fitness professional? Or what was the vision after that?

• 11:30Speaker 02

  I was married in college.

• 11:31Lewis Howes?

  Shut up.

• 11:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:32Lewis Howes?

  That's some, that's some Idaho stuff right there.

• 11:34Speaker 02

  Idaho and Utah. You know, like, I, I know a lot of people, a lot of my friends married and have kids, you know?

• 11:40Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 11:40Speaker 02

  I was married at 21 to a girl.

• 11:42Lewis Howes?

  At Dixie State.

• 11:42Speaker 02

  At Dixie State. So I went through college, uh, two of the, the four years married. A girl I, I dated in high school and we kind of dated on and off for the first two years of college and then got married. And then, uh, we moved back to Boise together. And then what happened is she was a nurse. I hadn't even had, I didn't graduate, I didn't graduate at the time when I moved back. So still a few credits short, working at Texas Roadhouse and...

• 12:09Lewis Howes?

  Waiter or?

• 12:09Speaker 02

  I was a waiter there, yep. And kind of trying to figure out, you know, thinking about going to chiropractic school. I had a little tryout, a little school tryout with the Titans. It didn't pan out and then I fractured my ankle and just kind of gave up on that. It was tough because that's your identity.

• 12:22Lewis Howes?

  It's it, man. It's your life.

• 12:23Speaker 02

  And you know that.

• 12:23Lewis Howes?

  You don't think about anything else after football. It's like, oh, let's just keep going.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 12:27Lewis Howes?

  See how far we can go.

• 12:28Speaker 02

  You know, you're going to school and you're not really thinking about what you want to do because you're hoping this football thing pans out.

• 12:32Lewis Howes?

  You're not studying.

• 12:33Speaker 02

  No.

• 12:33Lewis Howes?

  You don't care about class.

• 12:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. And that, and that, and you just do it for football, you know?

• 12:38Lewis Howes?

  That's it, man. It's the only reason I went to school.

• 12:40Speaker 02

  100%. And then, so I, I get back, we get back to Boise. I'm working as a waiter. I'm about, you know, 12 credits short. She's a nurse. Relationship, you know, it was tough. She was the breadwinner and they ended up stepping out on our marriage and I... What, what, you know, I, we ended up getting divorced, but it was probably a big wake up call for me as well. I went back down to Dixie State, finished my degree, did it for me, you know, didn't have to do it for football or anything else. You know, and, and got for the first time, I think, you know, uh, really felt good about where I was at. And at the time, I was going to school, taking 16 credits, working at Texas Roadhouse back down in St. George. Prepped for my, one of my very first bodybuilding competitions, like it was a, there was a spokesmodel search for muscle and fitness.

• 13:21Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  At the Mr. Olympia contest in Vegas and.

• 13:24Lewis Howes?

  You heard about it online or you reading the magazine or?

• 13:27Speaker 02

  Magazine and online. It was a big one, you know, like 250 guys entered it in and you know, I, I'd never worked that, that semester. I lived in my grandparents' house because they didn't, they didn't live there, you know, this was before iPhones and I didn't have the internet at their house. And I'd go to work, I'd go to school and then I'd prep. My whole life was structured. I never worked so hard and I never learned so much about myself in that short, you know, four or five month period of time. I ended up winning that muscle and fitness male model search and got in. And from there on, I was like running in the fitness industry and just kind of, you know, there's this men's physique category that was then created after that, that I participated in, get my pro card in the IFBB and all along, you know, was working with bodybuilding.com because they're from Boise, Idaho.

• 14:10Speaker 02

  And then Optimum Nutrition, one of the world's largest supplement companies. And I just was given some amazing opportunities to travel around the world and meet people at expos, started a YouTube channel and just kind of just been running ever since with it.

• 14:22Lewis Howes?

  What year was this? How old were you?

• 14:24Speaker 02

  This would have been 2010, uh, 2009, 2010. So.

• 14:28Lewis Howes?

  When you won the fitness search.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  When I, and that was, I was probably, uh, 24, 25.

• 14:33Lewis Howes?

  Gotcha.

• 14:33Speaker 02

  Um, yeah, 24, 25.

• 14:35Lewis Howes?

  You've just been kind of trying to figure it out ever since then. Like, how do I maximize this opportunity and maximize the next one and build it?

• 14:41Speaker 02

  100%.

• 14:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 14:42Speaker 02

  And it, and you know, it was, it wasn't always something, you know, I was always told there's no money in the fitness industry and which is, you know, true in a lot of ways. You know, the big bodybuilders make a lot of money, but now, you know, when men's physique was created a couple of years ago, supplement companies started realizing that people love that attainable look. Um, and so.

• 15:00Lewis Howes?

  As opposed to the bodybuilding look.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  The massive, massive muscles. Yeah. So, and that was kind of where I started off, but. Me growing up as an athletic, you know, an athletic family, wanting to be an athlete, you know, my training has kind of gotten back to that. And now I'm trying anything and everything and really focusing in more on the YouTube. Competing is no longer something I really focus in because it's selfish at the end of the day. It served its purpose for me. I, you know, for a longest time, my, my goal was to be men's physique Mr. Olympia.

• 15:29Lewis Howes?

  How many categories are there in the Olympia?

• 15:31Speaker 02

  For men's, there's two right now. There's bodybuilding and men's physique. Yep.

• 15:36Lewis Howes?

  When did this physique thing come out?

• 15:38Speaker 02

  It came out about 2011.

• 15:39Lewis Howes?

  Also after you?

• 15:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, after I won the search. The search, actually, was kind of the, the launchpad for this category, men's physique, that's now, you know, taken off and in, in the bodybuilding world. At the same time, social media came about and we all know Instagram and Facebook, everyone loves posting meals and their fitness. You know, you, nobody goes to the gym anymore without taking selfie at the gym. So it's like, it kind of was a perfect storm and I felt like that's the only reason I really have a good social media following is because people liked, um, you know, the, kind of that process.

• 16:09Lewis Howes?

  The daily story, yeah, the journey.

• 16:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, so, you know, I can, yeah.

• 16:13Lewis Howes?

  How long you've been competing for a number of years? Like, would it be twice a year you compete in competition type of thing or what was this?

• 16:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, I didn't compete as much as a lot of the other guys because I knew that, that I wanted to, to win Mr. Olympia, but I knew that was only, that was a stepping stone. There's other things I wanted to do. Part of that included LA, part of that included clothing, supplements and, and, and maybe even one day acting. But I think that, at the, at the heart of it is I, I like, I like being at expos. I like meeting people. I like doing YouTube.

• 16:46Lewis Howes?

  Connecting with people, yeah.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that to me goes so much further than anything else. And, you know, I come from, like I said, seven kids. None of them really are in the fitness world. So like, it's not something that I get so caught up in. Like, I know there's a lot of people that compete that really get caught up in it, but I have a really great family that I feel like has always kind of kept me grounded and, and seeing a bigger picture with everything. And, um, so that's kind of where I'm at now.

• 17:08Lewis Howes?

  That's cool, man. How many events are you doing a year right now? Expos?

• 17:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's a lot. Probably 12 to 14. So this year, yeah, just about. This year, we've done places like India, we started off with in January, obviously LA, the Arnold's in Spain, Ohio, China, Sweden, Australia. So it's a trip seeing the world. You know, a lot of the expo halls look the same, so it doesn't matter where I'm at. But the people, the people that come up and say, Steve, I watched your YouTube, I lost 30 pounds doing this program on bodybuilding.com. Or, you know, that's what, to me, I'm like, you know what, this is, this is really what it's about. And I don't know, I just, it gives me tingles when I, when people start telling me stories like that.

• 17:51Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 17:52Speaker 02

  And now being in LA, I want to, I want to grow that to a bigger platform and try to really take that to, to a bigger audience.

• 17:59Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. I want to transition into a topic about masculinity.

• 18:04Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 18:04Lewis Howes?

  Because a lot of men, most, I'm assuming mostly men that follow you.

• 18:08Speaker 02

  Seventy-eight percent.

• 18:09Lewis Howes?

  Seventy-eight percent.

• 18:09Speaker 02

  Roughly.

• 18:10Lewis Howes?

  On the Instagram now that you can see the stats.

• 18:12Speaker 02

  On the Instagram, that was one of the best things.

• 18:15Lewis Howes?

  So about 80%. And they all, what do they want? They want to look like you, they want to be more manly? Do they want to have bigger muscles? Like, what is their goals?

• 18:24Speaker 02

  You know, and I think it really depends on, I think, age too. But I think everyone starts off wanting to be bigger and stronger that follows me. And I was that same kid at 18, 19 years old, I wanted to be big and strong. And again, that's where we get back to the applesauce and the peas and the carrots. So you give them that, and it's, again, it can be a little bit douche. You're in the gym, doing bicep curls and things like that. Then you lead them into more health, and you start talking about why we're doing these types of things, being functional, nutrition, you know, and what, what being in the gym, what it really should be about. And how, you know, you can pretty much take that, that struggle in the gym and apply it to other areas of your life, which was kind of what I did with the whole divorce in my life. But that's, that's where, you know, that's my demographic, and I think they want, yes, they want to look better, they want to be bigger.

• 19:09Speaker 02

  I think also they want acceptance. At the end of the day, they want, they want people to look at them and, and really, it's like nothing, you know, it's, I want to create a community where, you know, because really, people go to the gym a lot of the times for insecurities. That was myself, you know, at the time of my divorce. I didn't really have a lot going for me. I knew I could control what happened in the gym, and it made me feel good to exercise, release endorphins, where I didn't have a lot of other things feeling good in my life at the time. So I think, you know, The gym is, I've seen a lot of great things that it can come from in just leading to health. Now, there's a point where you care about yourself too much, you care about your parents too much. It's you, you, you, you, you, and you stop worrying about everyone else in your life.

• 19:54Speaker 02

  That is, you know, there's that balance and I've also been that person too.

• 19:57Lewis Howes?

  How do you handle that?

• 19:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:59Lewis Howes?

  You know, because you've got to post constantly to stay engaged with your audience. You need to build your following. You can't just post once every two weeks.

• 20:05Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:05Lewis Howes?

  You've got to post daily, all over the place. How do you stay grounded and, you know, not selfish looking or whatever?

• 20:13Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:14Lewis Howes?

  But also it comes from a giving place.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  That, that is a great question because it seems like the more selfish you are sometimes in our day and age on social media. Like, look at me, shirtless selfies, this and that, more people are going to follow you and things like that.

• 20:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's going to get you more engagement.

• 20:26Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:26Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 20:26Speaker 02

  So I think that there is a, getting back to that, that certain amount of, you can call it douchiness or whatnot, that is, that is, you know, you, you bring people in, you kind of, and then it's like, why, why are they going to stay following?

• 20:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 20:39Speaker 02

  Because, you know, there's people I'll follow, I kind of see what they're about. If they're great, I keep following. If not, if I don't like the message that they're portraying, I unfollow them. And I, for me, that's what it's, it's always been about, you know, there's, you know, and it's rotating things on a scheduling of posts where you're talking more, you know, you get deeper in some posts. You, you talk about, you know, other people that are doing great, great things in other areas. You know, books that I like and you try to make it, you know, and some people will, will appreciate that, others won't. Some people just always want to see fitness stuff, but I can't be, I can't do that because I'm not being true to myself then. But I think that, I think people respect that in the long run. And then there, there are a following that's really engaged and care about you rather than just, you know, how you're looking and things like that.

• 21:21Lewis Howes?

  What was your biggest insecurity after the divorce?

• 21:24Speaker 02

  After the divorce, probably my biggest insecurity is that I, I wasn't working hard enough. Like, that, you know, I got, I... I couldn't succeed because I was no longer a football player. I didn't know how to be successful in anything else. I kind of felt like, you know, I didn't really have a lot of, you know, I never took school super serious. I never, there was never, nothing besides sports that I was ever successful in. And it was my biggest insecurity that there was something wrong with me that, you know, I was going to be that way forever, that I didn't have any other talents to, to give to people other than playing sports. But again, that's just, that's, that's something that I think a lot of people go through in their early twenties, figuring out who they are.

• 22:08Speaker 02

  But it was a big part of, of my life and going through that then, I think really, now that I'm in my thirties, now that I'm 31, it's hard to say that, you know, kind of, kind of went through those things to figure out and be more secure now.

• 22:21Lewis Howes?

  What do you say is your biggest security right now then?

• 22:23Speaker 02

  Insecurity right now?

• 22:24Lewis Howes?

  Or do you have any?

• 22:25Speaker 02

  Oh, no, I definitely got, definitely got insecurities. Biggest insecurity right now, I would say just, there's times that I, I feel like I could, I could lose, and again, you have that fear of failing in life still, but that, that everything you've built up could be taken away, or all of a sudden you wake up tomorrow and, and you know, Instagram's not around or something, and you all of a sudden you don't have this following. And again, it's like the same thing with football. What do you have left? So I'm trying to make sure that, that there's balance in life and, and there's something more that can be, you can attach your name to other than just social media accounts.

• 23:01Lewis Howes?

  Right, okay. What do you think's missing in your life?

• 23:04Speaker 02

  Missing, probably right now, 100% I can say this, and I think you know what I'm gonna say, is, is a relationship like, you know, with, with a girl is, you know, I'm not currently dating anyone. And I think for me, it's good to kind of take a step back and, and focus in on what I'm doing, but also what I, what do I want to see in myself to then be a better partner for somebody in the future? Cause I'm not getting any younger.

• 23:29Lewis Howes?

  What's the ultimate dream girl? Who is she?

• 23:33Speaker 02

  You know, and that has evolved over the years. It's funny because when I was 22, 23, the girls that I was like, I think I would like to date her. It's changed now. And I start, I immediately think about, you know, is this person potentially a good mom? You know, does she have her own things that she likes and has going for her? You know, when before, you know, I would have been fine with a girl that just, you know, wanted to be all, yeah, look good and wanted to just go work out with me at the gym. You know, now it's, I, you know, I want her to be somebody who's educated, has, has views on other things, you know, politically in the world today that, that means something, also has a spiritual side to her as well, that, that has something that, you know, has a moral compass.

• 24:14Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. Interesting. Why is it hard for you to find that?

• 24:18Speaker 02

  Time.

• 24:18Lewis Howes?

  I feel like girls would be all over you right now, huh?

• 24:20Speaker 02

  It's time right now, just on the road constantly. And, and again, there's that, when you, when you're concentrating on, you know, trying to build a business like I am.

• 24:28Lewis Howes?

  That's your, that's your girlfriend, man.

• 24:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:30Lewis Howes?

  That's your baby.

• 24:31Speaker 02

  It really is. There's not really any place, I don't go out and drink at clubs in LA. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm living here, but when I'm here, it's work. When I want to relax between trips or LA, I go back and I spend it with family because family's huge to me. Family and really good friends. So unless they're like, hey, I have this great girl I want to set you up with. You know, there's not, there's not many Snapchats I'm opening or, you know, the girls that are super forward, I, I tend to, I tend to kind of shy away from, yeah.

• 24:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Not the girls at the expo is probably aren't the ideal.

• 25:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. I, I, I think again, the, the expo scene is very competition related and I want to find a girl who, who loves fitness. You know, maybe even into yoga, you know, holistic nutrition, things like that. Somebody that has that aspect to them, uh, maybe doesn't necessarily, you know, work for a supplement company as, as a living. Just to kind of offset some of what I do.

• 25:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's cool, man. Okay. What do you think it's going to take from you to create that in your life?

• 25:27Speaker 02

  Dedicate time and, and resources to, and, and again, that, that comes back to sitting down and actively trying to find, whether it's, you know, going to a, a church group that has, you know, young people there or, you know, even. I have not, and I refuse to create an online dating account. You know, I'm not on Tinder.

• 25:48Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 25:49Speaker 02

  Uh, I think there's one called Bumble.

• 25:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, there is. I mean, I'm not at any of these, obviously. I gotta go for them, but.

• 25:54Speaker 02

  That's right. And then.

• 25:56Lewis Howes?

  I hear Bumble's good because.

• 25:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's the girl that.

• 25:58Lewis Howes?

  Girl says that they're interested.

• 25:59Speaker 02

  I just found out about this.

• 26:00Lewis Howes?

  Get on that one.

• 26:01Speaker 02

  Bumble. Okay.

• 26:02Lewis Howes?

  Check it out.

• 26:03Speaker 02

  I might have to check out Bumble. Also.

• 26:04Lewis Howes?

  Check it out, and then we know in two weeks what dates will line up.

• 26:07Speaker 02

  What happens? Also, friends that are, are, uh, you know, in, in the, plugged into the social scene that might have.

• 26:14Lewis Howes?

  Come do AcroYoga with me and my ladies someday, and we'll, uh, introduce you to some people.

• 26:17Speaker 02

  Nice, nice. So I got, I got, I got you now looking out for me. Sean Lowe, a guy that was on The Bachelor a couple of years ago. They ended up marrying.

• 26:23Lewis Howes?

  Oh, really?

• 26:24Speaker 02

  His, the one that he picked.

• 26:25Lewis Howes?

  Go on The Bachelor.

• 26:26Speaker 02

  I, you know, him and I were talking about that. The problem is.

• 26:29Lewis Howes?

  It's not worth it, man.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  No, and I'd have to go to The Bachelorette first. Oh, I can, yeah.

• 26:32Lewis Howes?

  A few years ago, they asked me to be The Bachelor.

• 26:34Speaker 02

  Really?

• 26:35Lewis Howes?

  And it was like.

• 26:35Speaker 02

  You turned it down.

• 26:36Lewis Howes?

  Twice they asked me. Turned it down both times. One, I just think it's like not good for your brand long-term.

• 26:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:43Lewis Howes?

  To do a show like that.

• 26:44Speaker 02

  You get pegged as that.

• 26:45Lewis Howes?

  Think of, is there one guy who's been The Bachelor who has created something that actually matters in the world after that?

• 26:53Speaker 02

  You know, the only, the only name I could think of is Sean Lowe. And again, he, he, he, he wrote a book about it. But again, I think, you know, he, he and his wife now are, are exploring other areas, but I can't, I can't tell. Besides Sean, I don't know a single Bachelor name.

• 27:05Lewis Howes?

  Jesse, the guy who's the ESPN analyst.

• 27:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, Jesse.

• 27:09Lewis Howes?

  Quarterback dude or whatever.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 27:10Lewis Howes?

  But he, you know, I don't know.

• 27:12Speaker 02

  I forgot he was even The Bachelor.

• 27:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. It was 10 years ago or something. You know what I mean? So anyways, I just, I remember I asked, I was like, let me ask my sisters about this and see what they think. And I, I called them on the phone. I was like, I just got asked to do this. I was just casted to do this. Should I go do it? And they were like, absolutely not. Like.

• 27:30Speaker 02

  Really?

• 27:30Lewis Howes?

  Don't be a tool. Like.

• 27:32Speaker 02

  I love that.

• 27:33Lewis Howes?

  No chance. Like, if you do, we'll disown you type of thing.

• 27:35Speaker 02

  So that, do they watch the show?

• 27:37Lewis Howes?

  Probably. I mean, I don't know.

• 27:39Speaker 02

  For pure entertainment. They don't want to see their brother on it.

• 27:40Lewis Howes?

  They're like, no way.

• 27:41Speaker 02

  I got four sisters, so maybe I should, I should probably get an idea. It probably wouldn't. I mean, they, they definitely want to give it their stamp of approval, but.

• 27:48Lewis Howes?

  I'm sure it'd be great. It'd be fun, but then you're that The Bachelor dude all the time.

• 27:52Speaker 02

  Yeah. No.

• 27:53Lewis Howes?

  You want to be known for something bigger.

• 27:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I'm, I don't know if I can, I don't know if I want to say this, but I feel like because it's a TV show, it's a reality TV show.

• 28:01Lewis Howes?

  Dude, it's so staged, everything.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  Staged, and they're finding people that are.

• 28:04Lewis Howes?

  Crazy.

• 28:05Speaker 02

  Certifiable.

• 28:06Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy, man.

• 28:10Lewis Howes?

  Sort of, I like it. What, okay, I want to go back to masculinity. Cause I'm, I'm doing research for a book that I'm writing right now called The Mask of Masculinity. And as, I think you could relate to me growing up as a young man playing sports that, you know, teammates, coaches, society tells us certain things on how to be a man. Tells us to be big and strong, not to cry, not to show emotions, don't be a wuss, don't be all these other names that we use. And I think it affects us, at least it affected me, I'll speak for myself, affected me and a lot of the teammates that I know. In this projection of what it means to be masculine in today's world. And I loved your, your video for your trailer for your new program that you had that's,

• 28:55Lewis Howes?

  you know, closed down right now. The video, it's like warriors, like fighting or something. What was this?

• 29:00Speaker 02

  Oh, that's the Modern Physique on Bodybuilding.com.

• 29:02Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. This trailer is unbelievable. We're gonna link it up here, cause I was watching it. I was like, this is unbelievable. This like speaks to me, you know? I want to be a warrior. I want to be all these things. But what is it? What does masculinity mean to you? And do you feel like this industry or your experience has shaped you or hurt you in relationships? By living a certain way that's held you back emotionally or something in relationships?

• 29:27Speaker 02

  I definitely think the, the industry, fitness industry I'm talking about, and even, you know, being in LA, you know, everyone here is, is very, as a, as a man, you need to make a certain amount of money. And this is-

• 29:38Lewis Howes?

  Drive a certain car.

• 29:39Speaker 02

  Exactly. And, and I, I, I think that as, as a man, it's something that I've learned and being from Idaho and having a really,

• 29:47Speaker 02

  it really strong male figures in my life, seeing that, you know, you can be masculine without having to bark orders at people and be this alpha male all the time. I did grow up, my dad's definitely a type A personality. So I, I have some of that, I think, in me. But also I think that there's that spot for, you know, really leading by example and being compassionate. And I think that in today's society, I think the biggest thing, especially on my, on my YouTube channel that we kind of talk about, was we try to get real with people. I did a series called The 22 Things Happy People Do Differently. And I, I didn't come up with these, they're, they're out there already, but I talked about what they meant for me. And I was trying to get real with people about, you know, breaking down some of these things that, that, you know, you, you can't really talk about, you're not supposed to talk about as a guy.

• 30:32Speaker 02

  And I think that that really- So many guys come up to me and be like, hey, out of all the videos, the workout videos you've that I've done, it's like that 22 things happy people do differently really affected me in my life. And you know, it's about being positive and it's about, you know, surrounding yourself with good people and it's about, you know, it just is, it's a different way of looking at things. And I think that there's more, it's good because there's more and more, I think, now that is coming about that, you know, guys can be, there's just a lot more acceptance about whoever you are out there. So I think that there is a lot of good things going on. But for me, you know, I have great people in my life that, that aren't, it's the exact opposite of the fitness industry. So I feel like, you know, I'm not really inundated with

• 31:16Speaker 02

  that. And I have these people in my life when the doors are closed that I really value what they say. And I watch them with their families, you know, a good friend of mine, Dr. Tracy Ors is his name. He definitely is a guy that I look up to, kind of, you know, with his whole family, along with my dad, sets the stage that, you know, he leads by example. He's not quick to yell and very, very easygoing. And that's kind of what how I, how I want to be lead, lead by example.

• 31:46Lewis Howes?

  Do you feel like as a role model and someone who has a big audience, you have a responsibility to, you know, be your true authentic self? Or do you feel like you have to live up to what they want you to be? Maybe this, I don't know, buff dude is just like,

• 32:00Speaker 02

  There's, there's, there's, it's

• 32:01Lewis Howes?

  You know what I mean?

• 32:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, because there's two sides of it.

• 32:03Lewis Howes?

  I know you chose to horse the man, but

• 32:05Speaker 02

  There is two sides of it, you know, you want, you want to be this version of yourself that is the best. And that involves, you know, I want to, I want my grandma, my aunts, my, my mom and dad to look what I'm doing and be proud. That being said, you know, you also have this very worldly vision of what people want you to be. And I feel like if you can, if you can have the balance and do both, then, and that's the constant struggle is that balance is striving for that balance in life. And it's not really listening to the world. It's not really getting caught up on social media. There's going to be times that, that all of us fall into that. But it's, it's listening to those who really truly

• 32:48Speaker 02

  care about you and have your best interests at heart. And when they say, you know, that, you know, they, they've been watching and they like this or that, that's what really makes me feel good.

• 32:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Do you think you need to be big and strong and have a certain physique in order to be masculine?

• 33:03Speaker 02

  Oh, that's a good question. You know, I grew up, I grew up watching Bloodsport, John Van Damme, Arnold, Stallone, all those guys. So, you know, I definitely think that, you know, when I think masculine, you know, I think a cowboy, like being from Idaho, I think, you know, those guys that I just mentioned. But I think it's more than that. I think that, you know, being, being masculine is really putting others first. That's to me, putting others first, like that's the ultimate sacrifice.

• 33:29Lewis Howes?

  It's a great example. That's a great definition.

• 33:31Speaker 02

  Yeah. And that, that really like as a role.

• 33:34Lewis Howes?

  So it doesn't matter about physique necessarily, even though that's where you grew up thinking and seeing like these big masculine men.

• 33:40Speaker 02

  And it's a stereotype that we think of and but digging deeper into all those things, when you watch, even when you take those characters, what happened in most of these movies, they.

• 33:49Lewis Howes?

  They were serving.

• 33:50Speaker 02

  They were serving others. They were serving others and ultimately their needs came second. And I think that, that that's ultimately in my career, what I want to do is serve others because that, that A is really at the core of happiness, I think. And that's at the core of all these, these, these guys in my life that I look up to. That's what they're doing, actually. They're putting their family's needs first. They're putting, and again, they're not sacrificing, you know, they're not, they'll say no to things. It's not like you have to be this, this pushover that says yes to everything and, and you're giving your time out to everybody else and you don't have any time for the things you love in life. That, and that's what I'm learning. That's what I'm going through right now, that you have to say no to some things.

• 34:29Lewis Howes?

  Say yes to yourself.

• 34:29Speaker 02

  Exactly. And then you're better for everyone in your life that really matters that you, then when you do give your time to, it's truly coming from your heart in a place of you wanting to do it, rather than just you feel obligated.

• 34:40Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. I want to dive a little deeper into this. I had a good question, but then I was just so focused on what you were saying.

• 34:48Speaker 02

  I'll take that as a compliment.

• 34:48Lewis Howes?

  I'm thinking, um, do you feel like most of the, the guys that follow you, the young twenties guys, do you feel like most of them feel like they're not a man or masculine unless they have? A body type that's certain of size.

• 35:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:05Lewis Howes?

  Feel like they're less masculine.

• 35:07Speaker 02

  I would, I would say they do feel like that. And I'm not gonna lie too, like there's times that, you know, I, I feel like that. The reason, you know, for me, I, I look at it as more of, it, it's something that I enjoy. I, I say, you know, your body, your body is an instrument, not an ornament. Like for the longest time in my career, it was all about how I looked. And I can tell you that shit got so old, cause you're.

• 35:31Lewis Howes?

  Exhausting too, right?

• 35:32Speaker 02

  It is exhausting and the darkest.

• 35:34Lewis Howes?

  Selfish, yeah.

• 35:35Speaker 02

  The darkest times in my life is when I was unhappy with the fact that I couldn't eat perfectly. I was working in, in Santa Monica at a place called True Food.

• 35:44Lewis Howes?

  Oh, it's a good spot.

• 35:45Speaker 02

  It is a great spot and I was prepping for.

• 35:46Lewis Howes?

  It's good food, man.

• 35:47Speaker 02

  It's great food and I was prepping for a show, working out twice a day at Gold's Gym, the Mecca. This is about four years ago and I remember working there.

• 35:54Lewis Howes?

  As a waiter or as a?

• 35:54Speaker 02

  As a waiter, yeah. I didn't have great relationships with, with people like this in LA. Didn't know really what I was doing here, you know, I just knew this was the place to make things happen. But I was working there and, you know, I just remember I was so upset with myself. Cause if I had one bite of something that wasn't on my diet, cause I wanted this perfect physique. I wanted to be perfect. And that was just, that's our biggest enemy in life is just trying to be perfect. So now it's about like, you know, looking, looking at real health, getting into real health. And how when you focus.

• 36:23Lewis Howes?

  Functional health.

• 36:24Speaker 02

  Function, yeah, functional health. When you focus on that, the look and health aspect, or the look aspect kind of takes care of itself. Like, yeah, I might not be 4% body fat, but that's not healthy. What's healthy is, you know, I can be, you know, six, seven, eight percent body fat, be healthy, look phenomenal. And, and really at the end of the day, be so much happier.

• 36:42Lewis Howes?

  And you gotta have endurance too. 4% body fat, you can't run a mile probably, right?

• 36:46Speaker 02

  No, like.

• 36:46Lewis Howes?

  Dead.

• 36:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's just, and it's miserable. You're, you're a miserable person to be around because you're tracking every macro. And all of a sudden, the things that matter most in life start mattering, mattering the, the least. And, you know, all of a sudden like you're, you're so caught up in yourself and being perfect that like.

• 37:01Lewis Howes?

  For what?

• 37:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:02Lewis Howes?

  And what are we trying to be perfect for?

• 37:03Speaker 02

  Gets so burnt out.

• 37:04Lewis Howes?

  What's the point of being perfect? Like, why do people strive, why do you feel like you struck, were striving to be this perfect body?

• 37:10Speaker 02

  I, I think it, because it's natural to want more and more and more. So I think for people, anybody really.

• 37:17Lewis Howes?

  To be better.

• 37:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, to be better as an athlete, you know that, like you're always improving. Yeah, you can always improve. And I think that all of a sudden, like you're, you've gotten to, maybe you've won competitions, you know, you're competing in the Mr. Olympia contest. The only way really to get better and better and better is that now you almost have to be perfect in everything that you do. You have to be.

• 37:38Lewis Howes?

  Exhausting.

• 37:39Speaker 02

  It is. And I, and I think about, you know, the people even in the sports world who are almost perfect and just, you know, it's, it's, it's crazy how much time and effort goes into that. And those people are obviously God gifted in a lot of ways. Um, and I think that, that it is, it's, they struggle with the balance too. You know, so many ex athletes that get done and they just have nothing because they've been trying to be perfect and they're, and not taking care of any other areas of their life.

• 38:05Lewis Howes?

  So what advice would you give someone in their twenties or thirties and forties, a man?

• 38:10Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 38:10Lewis Howes?

  Who is trying to be a better man? And they have this image of masculinity that's focused around their body. What would you say to, that they should think about or focus on moving forward?

• 38:23Speaker 02

  And I, I definitely think so. I think the question being, where is the balance in that? You know, cause you do need to, to, I think as a man, be physically fit and healthy. Cause I think anyone, man, woman, whoever.

• 38:36Lewis Howes?

  Do you think you need to be big to be masculine or can you be lean and healthy?

• 38:39Speaker 02

  You could definitely, I think, be lean and healthy. You know, and I think definitely lean and healthy. And again, everyone's body type is, is, you know, every, there's so many different body types out there. Ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph, those are the body types we look at, you know, in the, in the fitness world and about how, you know, how easy you are to gain muscle and things like that. But you know, being a, being a, a, you know, triathlon, that's also masculine. Like you're able to run and you know, I was watching, and I, and I constantly am judging, looking at people's body, being like, oh, that, that person would probably be good for endurance or this person would be a great powerlifter. Or, or, you know, and I think so for, for men, there's definitely a physical aspect that I think that, but you don't necessarily.

• 39:19Speaker 02

  I don't think that it's should matter as much as it does in a lot of cases. You know, masculinity is it's so it's judged so outwardly these days. Where again, if you could get back to what's on the inside, that'll that'll definitely, I think. And it's a society problem, too.

• 39:38Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 39:38Speaker 02

  It's something that I think society ultimately, again, the epidemic, I say epidemic right now of Instagram is is everyone, and that's where people get this idea is I have to be better than this person. I have to be perfect. And it's one of those things that, you know, geez, that's that's it's a struggle of mine, but also something that I try to preach to.

• 39:59Lewis Howes?

  Sure. What's your biggest fear right now?

• 40:02Speaker 02

  My biggest fear right now is that. My biggest fear right now is that I'm getting older. I'm 31 years old.

• 40:11Lewis Howes?

  You look young as heck. You're fit, you're young, good looking.

• 40:15Speaker 02

  Right, but I'm never my, I guess, right now, if I had a biggest fear, it would be that I would be, I said right to now. I was thinking like, those things are there, but my biggest fear is is that I'm going to, you know, I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna find somebody that that, you know, to to to share all these things.

• 40:31Lewis Howes?

  Really? That's your biggest fear?

• 40:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, that, and I think ultimately burning out too is a fear of mine. You know, how how do you maintain this, you know, pedal to the metal, traveling the world?

• 40:43Lewis Howes?

  For how long?

• 40:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, and what happens when I stop? What happens when you stop going?

• 40:47Lewis Howes?

  Are you irrelevant now? Are you?

• 40:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:49Lewis Howes?

  Less wanted?

• 40:50Speaker 02

  Right. 110% all the time, and all of a sudden you stop. Do people still care type of thing?

• 40:56Lewis Howes?

  What's your vision? What do you want to create in this world?

• 40:58Speaker 02

  I would love, so my my vision for being in LA is is creating a a platform that allows people to really experience all different types of fitness. That being on the fitness level, I want to I want to give as much information about fitness and health as many people out there as possible. And that doesn't just necessarily mean in the gym. I want to better myself, whether it's yoga, surfing, like, well, I say surfing because that's something flexibility goes into that, endurance. And then what what I want to do with that is my goal with everything is is. Making people's lives better by just giving people tidbits on how to improve health, whether it's nutrition and again, it comes back because it's all tied together, physical, spiritual, mental, it's all tied tied together.

• 41:41Speaker 02

  And I think ultimately that is my goal is to help people be more well balanced in life, starting with and usually in our day and age, I think with with so much out there that the easiest place to start is with with your physical, physical health.

• 41:56Lewis Howes?

  Thing we can control or we can focus on every day. We have the power over our bodies. What's the greatest gift that you haven't discovered yet that you think is going to come out soon?

• 42:07Speaker 02

  Wow, that's a good, the greatest gift that I haven't discovered.

• 42:10Lewis Howes?

  The greatest gift inside of you, you haven't yet fully used that you think is inside of you.

• 42:16Speaker 02

  I think it's going to probably get back to when I, when I really give in to, to not worrying about failure. So the, and that, that will involve doing things that scare me and really just if I fail, I fail. I guess there are people in my life that that love me, but if I don't do those things, if I don't try to, to, um, to do what I'm really truly passionate about, then I'm going to always regret that. So I think, I think my biggest gift would be to really, I think there's a lot I can give people, um, whether it's YouTube or, or, you know, on a larger platform that involves

• 42:57Speaker 02

  health and wellness, but also that turns back into more of a spiritual side, figuring out, you know, like why, why, why do we care about these things? Like what, what is the purpose? We live in a crazy world right now and there's definitely, I think, a, a spiritual side that is missing in people. Like why, what is the purpose of, you know, why, why shouldn't we, we do some of the things that we're, we're seeing in this world? Like where's, where's your moral compass coming from? And, and getting back to, you know, generally, why are you wanting to be a good human being? And I think that ultimately that's where I want to go with things. Whether it's politics, I don't, you know, politics to me right now is such a scary.

• 43:37Lewis Howes?

  Crazy, right?

• 43:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, such a scary thing. So I think that ultimately that's where I wanted to, to look at something. And that would be a gift that I think that, that you do it through love and you do it through trying to be compassionate. Help, help people understand, uh, you know, cause there's a lot of hurt in the world right now. There's a lot of people that feel like, like, you know, there's so much mistreatment going on. And it can be a scary place and at the root of it is just love, I think. So I think, you know, loving on a broader scale.

• 44:06Lewis Howes?

  It's good, man. It's good. What are you most grateful for in your life recently?

• 44:09Speaker 02

  Oh, def- definitely most, most grateful for the ability to, for me and family to connect in a way like my, so good friends, father, now, growing up, I didn't understand why all, you know, people did a lot of the things they did, you know, whether it was my dad or, you know, I, I was a stubborn individual, stubborn kid. And I think now that like, I, I'm, I'm most grateful for the people in my life that are close that, you know, that I know that no matter what, I can call up any time of the day and no matter, you know, how much money or how many Instagram followers, they don't even care. They don't even, my family doesn't really, none of them are on social media.

• 44:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:47Speaker 02

  And that's what I'm most grateful for right now. Yeah, that they're like, it's just, that doesn't matter.

• 44:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:52Speaker 02

  But I, you know, and I'm also grateful for right now for the new relationships I think I've, you know, starting to develop in, in places in LA. Cause LA is a scary place.

• 45:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man. Especially coming from the Midwest, you know, you never know what you're gonna get here.

• 45:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, LA, yeah. LA is, so I, I think that, you know, I've definitely been surrounded. It's just, it's crazy how the world, the world works and that like, when you think certain way, you attract other people that think that way too.

• 45:15Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. What's your daily routine that is a non-negotiable for you every single day? That sets you up to become a better man?

• 45:23Speaker 02

  That's a great question. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna say that. As I'm inherently, I'm a people pleaser. So my day, the reason when I start getting unorganized and feel anxiety in my life, it's because I'm sacrificing things that really matter to me and that other people need my time. So I'm going to sacrifice something I really want and need to do, whether it's meditating, working out, preparing meals, getting enough sleep, going to church, traveling less, whatever it is.

• 45:55Speaker 02

  And I say church, a spiritual side, you know, I haven't, I haven't actually been to a church in a while because I've been traveling so much, but I think that, you know, one thing that I don't want to be negotiable is on the days is wake up, meditate, put the phone away, only answer emails from a certain time and that organization is ongoing for me right now, finding out, you know, because it's hard when I'm in LA and I'm not traveling, I want to get so much work done.

• 46:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 46:21Speaker 02

  But it's so easy to get burnt out because I'm giving away all this, all this time, phone calls, emails. And at the end of the day, it's like, how do I, how do I better myself and in turn better my brand and grow? And that usually happens when you're in your creative mindset early on in the morning. So meditating right now, making sure I'm working out because that, that is what, you know, that's such a large part of my brand. So the minute I'm no longer physically healthy because of all this traveling and poor, poor eating, then I'm not, I feel like a fraud on social media, on YouTube, I feel like I'm 100%, you know, not living what I'm preaching and that's hard for me. So starting to say no to things, making sure that I, I feel good about my life. So then I portray, I feel like I'm, I'm being a, a asset to people and I'm able to, to practice what I preach.

• 47:06Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. Okay. So if you could, if it could be a perfect day for you, what would be the four or five things you'd do every morning before you do anything else?

• 47:13Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I was recently started meditating. Yep. Meditating before, before I, you know, I try to, try to leave the phone. Wake up, meditate, stretch. Being somebody who's always been in the gym, playing sports, I never stretched enough.

• 47:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I wish I was a, I wish I was Jean Claude Van Damme.

• 47:31Speaker 02

  Right. The splits?

• 47:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man, it's amazing. See Wetherberg can do the splits.

• 47:35Speaker 02

  Can he really?

• 47:36Lewis Howes?

  Full splits.

• 47:37Speaker 02

  That doesn't surprise me. Wetherberg's an animal.

• 47:39Lewis Howes?

  The puncher, he's like so jacked and just boom, can punt it and split it. It's crazy.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  What a beast.

• 47:46Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so meditate, work out.

• 47:47Speaker 02

  Yep, definitely. And then it would be set up my day to where I have at least an hour blocked off for creative, whether it's reading, whether it's setting up things that I want to come to fruition, how I'm gonna do that. And then there's the execution part of the day. But also, I think that for me, it's also, there's a, a strategy that goes into content in, in what I want to push out and what it, what is it honing in on really what the message is? I want that to be and all of my content being that. Like, I want to have fun with things. I want to have fun with fitness. I want to find new oppor- new opportunities to give people out there to be successful in their lives with health and fitness.

• 48:28Speaker 02

  And then, you know, again, coming back to probably, probably dating and probably having the time to shut things off. Cause you need that.

• 48:36Lewis Howes?

  It's tough, man.

• 48:36Speaker 02

  You do. Yeah, it is tough.

• 48:38Lewis Howes?

  When it's our brand, it's our business.

• 48:41Speaker 02

  When you work from home.

• 48:42Lewis Howes?

  Man, it's, it's full time. It's hard to not, there's no, I forget what date is a lot of the time. I forget like, if it's the weekend or Tuesday, like, none of the days matter.

• 48:52Speaker 02

  Right. You're doing the same thing.

• 48:54Lewis Howes?

  I'm just focused on the vision, you know? There's no turn off. So, there's no happy hour, there's no weekends.

• 48:59Speaker 02

  Right. And so how do you, how do you, I mean, I, I look up to you with that kind of, with, with a lot of stuff. But like, you know, you, as a guy who's being successful with your own brand, how do you do that?

• 49:10Lewis Howes?

  Well, what hell, I mean, being in a relationship actually helps because whenever she's around, I put the phone to the side, like, the phone is not in the conversation. Except for maybe if we're like talking about something, we look something up together. But otherwise, the phone will be in the other room or it'll be off.

• 49:24Speaker 02

  That's huge.

• 49:24Lewis Howes?

  Like, I won't be, I'll give her the time to just be present because we only hang out a few days a week because she's busy with her, her career and everything, so.

• 49:31Speaker 02

  That time is meaningful.

• 49:32Lewis Howes?

  That allows me to shut off and connect. And it doesn't mean I'm, you know, my mind is still racing sometimes. I'm thinking about things. I'm still like, I'm like, ugh, you know, I'll get antsy and I want to go like create right then because I got an idea. But that helps. Also, scheduling my day, you know, scheduling my day, make sure in the mornings I schedule time to work out. That's in the calendar. I think if it's not in the calendar, that time, that free time, you'll book it with something else for a meeting or business or whatever.

• 49:59Speaker 02

  And how do you say no to like, I mean, are you good at that?

• 50:03Lewis Howes?

  Um, I like to say yes to a lot of things, but I'm getting pretty good. I'm getting better at saying no. I, I say no a lot more now than I, than I did. And the way I say no is by putting my vision first and saying, okay, every three months, we've got a big product launch. We've got something. So I know that I don't have much downtime. I've got to put my energy into my vision and our team vision of what we're creating. So I'm just like, hey, I'm sorry. I can't do the interview right now because this is what I'm focusing on and my team said no interviews, you know, you can put it on my team sometimes if I need to, but it's a, and then if people want something bad enough, I'm like, come back to me in six months.

• 50:45Lewis Howes?

  Like ask me again in six months. And if they really want it and they're persistent and they follow up on that day or whatever. And I'm like, you know, it's still not a good time. Follow up in six months. Like I'll do it after a few times. So if they show that they really care and they're thoughtful and they're patient, then I'm like, this is a good, you know.

• 51:01Speaker 02

  Those are the people you want to be associated with.

• 51:03Lewis Howes?

  I'm happy to give them 30 minutes to interview. I'm happy to whatever, jump on the phone, whatever it may be, you know, take a meeting, something like that. But I usually say no to everything upfront unless it's serving my vision.

• 51:13Speaker 02

  Gotcha.

• 51:14Lewis Howes?

  So that's what I do. Plus my assistant is good at like saying no to a lot of stuff for me. I'll just ask her, should I do this? Yes or no? And she's like, no.

• 51:22Speaker 02

  That, that, that's a voice, that's the person I need in my life.

• 51:24Lewis Howes?

  I want to say yes. I want to please everyone too. I'm a people, I want to be accepted. I want to be liked, you know, all these things. So it's an art, you know, it's a dance, but that's where it's at right now.

• 51:36Speaker 02

  And, and for your schedule, do you, do you, is everything like, you know, for me, I'm, I'm learning different ways to keep calendar. Do you guys do like in your, in your phone or?

• 51:45Lewis Howes?

  It's all on my phone and my assistant will also just text me when things are coming up and I'll look the night before what's happening tomorrow and kind of get an idea of what I'm, what's going on. So.

• 51:53Speaker 02

  These are all things I'm interested in trying, like the ways people are doing things. So.

• 51:57Lewis Howes?

  Um, I want to ask a few questions before I, to wrap it up. I want to talk about branding first and how you built this following because I think people be interested. There's a lot of coaches who listen, entrepreneurs who are launching businesses, but they don't have an audience. And you've built, what do you have, over a million on Instagram, a half a million on YouTube, Facebook, what's Facebook at for you?

• 52:19Speaker 02

  About eight hundred thousand.

• 52:20Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so you got a few million all over the place, right? Snapchat, you get a hundred thousand views. Well, you haven't broken it yet.

• 52:25Speaker 02

  I haven't.

• 52:26Lewis Howes?

  Ninety-eight thousand, ninety-nine thousand Snapchat views a video. So you've built this incredible loyal following and this audience all around the world. What would you say are some, you know, three to five things that help you build your following, keep your following engaged, but also, so it doesn't run your life?

• 52:43Speaker 02

  Right. I, I think in order to getting to the, how to build your following, it's, I think being something, obviously you have to be something different. You have to have your niche. What is it? Why are people going to follow you? And a lot of times it's going to be the way you look. Unfortunately, in this world, it is oftentimes initially the reason why people follow you is just judging the book by its cover.

• 53:04Lewis Howes?

  Or the design of your site, follow your design.

• 53:08Speaker 02

  Yep. The design of, yeah, it just how aesthetically pleasing is your brand. And, and then I also think that from that.

• 53:17Lewis Howes?

  So you think design is important, investing in design, quality of design?

• 53:20Speaker 02

  Def- definitely. And, and also your message. What, what is your, your message? And that's going to turn some people off maybe, or, but I think that as long as it's really what you're about, then you have passion for it. If your message is really something that you believe in and you have passion, when you have that excitement for something that you're doing, whatever it is that you're doing, if you're ridiculously excited about it, like willing to wake up super freaking early, that's contagious. And that's one thing that I've learned that whenever, you know, when I was excited to step on stage, the audience, the crowd, people, that's, that's a contagious thing. That's like, it's tangible when it's there and you'll naturally attract other people that are passionate for that.

• 54:01Lewis Howes?

  Or who want that.

• 54:02Speaker 02

  Right.

• 54:03Lewis Howes?

  A mentor, early mentor of mine said that the world makes room for passionate people.

• 54:07Speaker 02

  One hundred percent.

• 54:08Lewis Howes?

  When you are passionate, show up that way, people want to be around it. They're attracted like a magnet.

• 54:13Speaker 02

  You know what I mean?

• 54:13Lewis Howes?

  So.

• 54:14Speaker 02

  And when you're passionate, you don't feel, you don't, you don't notice the hours. You don't notice that, you know, all of a sudden, you know, you've been doing it for four years. Time's gone by like.

• 54:25Lewis Howes?

  Twelve hours a day.

• 54:26Speaker 02

  Yeah. Time's gone by and, and you're just like, I'm here because I love it. And even if I didn't get paid, or even if I wasn't, you know, I can't imagine doing anything else. I think that's a big time. It's, it's, you know, for me, it was, it was scary. I, instead of going, doing chiropractic stuff, I, I took a job.

• 54:43Lewis Howes?

  The secure way.

• 54:44Speaker 02

  Yeah. I took a job as a waiter still, um, because I wanted to travel around the world with Optum because I saw an opportunity there. They weren't paying me much, $500 a month. Um, that's not enough to live on. So I, but I said, you know, I had my college degree and instead of trying to go to corporate world or going back to school. I said, I think I, this is what I'm passionate about. I'm going to invest my time and, and I, they're not gonna, I'm not gonna get paid for it.

• 55:08Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 55:08Speaker 02

  But what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna shake every person's hand in line at an expo. I'm gonna give each person a hug. I'm gonna introduce myself. I'm gonna make that person remember me by the way I treated them. And that passion then grew. And I think that people felt that energy. It's, again, it's tangible when you're there at an expo and you can sit down and look somebody in the eyes and truly care about them. What they're doing and you can't fake that. You either have that or you don't. And there's been times in my life that I haven't had passion for it. And I feel like that's, that's when I, I had to come back and, am I giving away too much of my time? Am I burnt out? But definitely when you have that passion for something.

• 55:46Lewis Howes?

  I think that's a great, uh, thing that you just said about, you know, for five years, you went to expos once a month at least, sometimes more for five years. So. Hundreds, if not thousands of people that you shook hands at every event, built a relationship with, connected with them one-on-one, you know, gave them 10 seconds of eye contact, goes a long way, taking a photo, whatever it may be. You showed up every year for five, six plus years doing this. And I think people don't realize that how powerful that is. When I first started out, I went to trade shows every month as well in the marketing business world, entrepreneurial world, and did the same thing. Found mentors, found influencers, connected with them, gave them value. And I started hosting events all around the country, networking events. And I shook everyone's hand and showed up always, followed up via email.

• 56:31Lewis Howes?

  I was just like in service and I didn't have a following then. But that level of dedication and consistency over five plus years is what kickstarts your brand following. And I think people want it quicker. They don't want to do the work of connecting with people. They want to be behind the screen. They want to be just on Instagram and Facebook and hack the system.

• 56:50Speaker 02

  Right.

• 56:51Lewis Howes?

  But if you really want to build a loyal following.

• 56:52Speaker 02

  And a brand that's long-lasting.

• 56:55Lewis Howes?

  Is you got to connect with people in person, I believe.

• 56:57Speaker 02

  I agree 100% and that, that is, and again, it's connect. You can't do an expo for eight to 10 hours a day on your feet and not truly love people.

• 57:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you've got to love people.

• 57:08Speaker 02

  You do, like you can't fake that. And again, you're, you're going to be exhausted after it and you know, there's, there's sacrifices that you have to be made. But again, at the end of the day, you feel like you're doing what you want to do. You feel like you're giving value to people around you and that, that's a huge like, for me, I'm like, ah, this feels good. So I was doing it, you know, for myself as well.

• 57:27Lewis Howes?

  And maybe for some people who are very introverted, introverted, that's not going to work for them. But you've got to develop, you've got to offer something of so much value that you're able to reach people, whether it's an app or a tool or a website that's just so valuable for people that you don't have to meet them in person, but you can get it in front of them somehow.

• 57:43Speaker 02

  And I think even introverts, you know, are, there, there's, there's something that comes from, you could be introverted, but you can genuinely care. And the way you show that you care might be different from introvert to extrovert. You know, you might not be this loud, boisterous YouTube character, but you can, you, you put your time in someplace else that makes you super valuable.

• 58:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. This question's called the three truths. It's one of the five questions.

• 58:04Speaker 02

  Steve mentioned this one.

• 58:05Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so this is the last day for you, many years from now.

• 58:08Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 58:08Lewis Howes?

  And all your videos and content has been erased from time. There's no Instagram photos of you left. There's no comments of anything. And you get to write it down on a piece of paper. The three things that you know to be true about everything you've learned in life that you would pass on to everyone else. This is the only message they'll ever see from you ever again.

• 58:27Speaker 02

  Got you.

• 58:28Lewis Howes?

  What are your three truths?

• 58:29Speaker 02

  I definitely think the first one and most important for me is be happy today. So the thing in our, in our society, I'll be happy when I make a million dollars. I'll be happy when I have a million Instagram followers. I'll be happy when, when, when, when. If you're not happy now, you'll never be happy. If you're not, you know, and again, there's a difference between being content. Like, you know, I'm not going to just sit back, kick my feet up and all of a sudden think, you know, I've made it. Like, that's, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about enjoying that daily struggle. If, if you don't find things in your life to be positive about today, then you will never find those things. And that to me is, is the first and foremost. Every time I check, every time I feel myself starting to think, you know, I, I start thinking crappy.

• 59:08Speaker 02

  And in LA, you know, this happens because there's always somebody who's better, better looking, you know, more money or has a better, you know, this or that. Yeah, there's, there's, there's that. It's just, and it's, so it's human nature and it's the world that we live in today to teach you, you know, you, you, you don't have enough. Um, and not having enough starts making people feel like they're not good enough. And then not being good enough starts creating the sense of unhappiness. So I think it's about finding something every day to be grateful for and to be happy for. And then all of a sudden, you're already living that. You're, you've already made it, but you know, you, you want to, you want to give that, you want to continue that. So you keep on pushing.

• 59:48Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Okay. That's number one.

• 59:49Speaker 02

  That's number one. Um, number two, I would say, human beings are not designed to be alone. So whether it's family, friends, and there was, I think, the longest living, there was an area, I think, I, I, I heard this. And I, I might be wrong with some of the details, but I mean, I want to say it was Italy. And they, they noticed the people in this village were, were living extremely long.

• 1:00:12Lewis Howes?

  I think it's Asia. I think there's a documentary called Happy or something.

• 1:00:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, and this could, it could be Japan, but it, but it was.

• 1:00:19Lewis Howes?

  Different areas.

• 1:00:20Speaker 02

  The, what it was is these people were living extremely long lives and they looked at it as to why. And diet, everything being equal to some of these other communities, it was. They had core family and they stayed together. Sometimes they even lived together as family. They had people.

• 1:00:36Lewis Howes?

  In the city.

• 1:00:37Speaker 02

  Yes, so your tight knit community, the people that truly loved and cared about you were in your life every day, supporting and you gave that support. That I think creates a sense of love, secure and ultimately happiness and health. So, and again, there's times in your life that you're not going to be comfortable and you shouldn't be comfortable. But knowing that you have people that love and accept you, that acceptance I think is huge. So you're not designed to, you know, us as humans are not designed to be.

• 1:01:05Lewis Howes?

  Isolated.

• 1:01:06Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I think that for me, in my life, I've felt like I could do, do things on my own. And looking back now, I know that that is not the case.

• 1:01:15Lewis Howes?

  Exhausting too.

• 1:01:16Speaker 02

  It is exhausting.

• 1:01:17Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so humans are meant to be connected.

• 1:01:21Speaker 02

  And then I think.

• 1:01:21Lewis Howes?

  And then number three.

• 1:01:22Speaker 02

  The last one is, is just serve as much as you can. Serve other people as much as you can if you want, if you want to grow something. If you want to be successful and be content in life, you know, and I know that sounds cliche to serve people. But I really do think that the times that, you know, I start feeling bad about myself is when I'm thinking about myself. Like, you know, you get caught up in your own thoughts and you get caught up in your own, like, you know, what you do and don't have. But when you all of a sudden turn that off and try to make someone else's life genuinely better. There's, there's something that happens when you work your butt off and it's for a bigger cause or for someone, someone else. And it might not, you might not even know that person, but, but giving them and genuinely liking doing it.

• 1:02:08Speaker 02

  Like you're not doing it because you have to, you're doing it because, because you see somebody out there needing help. And it's really a, it makes you feel good. So maybe it's a selfish thing ultimately because it's still making you feel good. But you're, you're serving other people and, and the times that, you know, and that's, that's why competition stuff was hard for me because it was all about me. So. Those are, those are my, my three.

• 1:02:29Lewis Howes?

  I like them, man. They're great. Before I ask the final question, what, uh, where should we connect with you? What is your favorite place to connect online? What's your website?

• 1:02:39Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:02:39Lewis Howes?

  Give it to us.

• 1:02:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, so my, I do have, uh, my favorite place to connect with people, interacting with people. Right now, it's Instagram and Snapchat.

• 1:02:47Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 1:02:47Speaker 02

  Um, those are just the easiest place. You're very user friendly.

• 1:02:50Lewis Howes?

  And what's your Instagram?

• 1:02:51Speaker 02

  My Instagram's just Steve Cook.

• 1:02:53Lewis Howes?

  And then Snapchat.

• 1:02:54Speaker 02

  Snapchat is Steve Cook Health.

• 1:02:57Speaker 02

  You know, Instagram's great. I'm finding, you know, I feel less engaged with Instagram because it's so picture. So it's like, it's like, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm trying to, to, I don't know. Instagram's fun, but it, there's a point to where I hate. I, Instagram's, you post a picture on Instagram and you might go back and check how many likes. When was the last time, like, you know, I, I think about as a million, with a million followers, I'm thinking about more what I'm posting rather than I post what I want. Like, I want people to like it. And I, so I check the likes and things like that. So Instagram, you get this like immediate feedback. If people like your shit or they don't.

• 1:03:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:03:31Speaker 02

  And sometimes you're like, ah, like I'm not going to post this picture even though I really like this and it's meaningful.

• 1:03:36Lewis Howes?

  It's not going to get a lot of likes.

• 1:03:37Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I don't like that aspect of Instagram. Whereas Twitter, you know, you're just interacting with people.

• 1:03:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:42Speaker 02

  And there is a lot of great interaction that goes on there. My website is stevecookhealth.com. You know, recently we've been doing this big program. Big is a program I came up with, with, uh, two exercise physiology guys. They're both, one, one I grew up knowing, played football against in high school. He played at Utah State.

• 1:03:59Lewis Howes?

  Did I read he had 48 reps in the, uh, 225 bench press?

• 1:04:03Speaker 02

  Strongest.

• 1:04:04Lewis Howes?

  Forty-eight reps?

• 1:04:05Speaker 02

  I hit 36 and I thought I was.

• 1:04:07Lewis Howes?

  That's insane, dude. I've done like 16 in my prime, you know?

• 1:04:09Speaker 02

  So this, this Jake.

• 1:04:11Lewis Howes?

  Forty-eight.

• 1:04:12Speaker 02

  Jake is insanely, insanely strong. Um, and strongest natural person I've ever met in my life. And I, I can say that with 100% certainty, um, that, that he's just freaky.

• 1:04:23Lewis Howes?

  Freak.

• 1:04:23Speaker 02

  Yeah. So he, and he, uh, so he's a, got his master's degree in exercise physiology, messes around with crosses just because he's stupid strong and he's good at it. But he's like, he, he looks like a bodybuilder out there. He's as strong as a powerlifter and he's just, he's an amazing guy. The other one is Mike Kazial. He's a guy that is, um, from Louisiana, has a really cool story. Was into drugs as a kid, kind of came about that, you know, he, he got through that through, um, you know. He actually lived in Utah for a while doing this, you know, they ship kids off to Utah and he's doing these outdoor camps. He got through that, went to college, you know, straightened out his life. Amazing story. Again, exercise physiology, master's degree.

• 1:05:06Speaker 02

  And did this program with him with Big. So I do the bodybuilding side of things, the aesthetic side of things. They bring their expertise on how to get stronger, bigger and faster. So it's a, it's a program that's really designed to kind of come at it from all areas. So that's been really fun to do, seeing people just doing amazing changes. People can find that on the website there.

• 1:05:22Lewis Howes?

  What's this other physique thing, the video that I saw?

• 1:05:25Speaker 02

  The Modern Physique. Now that's a program that I did for Bodybuilding.com and it's kind of like a mini Big program. It's kind of more cookie cutter. It's one size fits all because, you know, we can't change things up because once it goes on Bodybuilding.com, it lives there. But that was a cool thing. Bodybuilding.com, they have a great production team. It's always fun working with them because they just get, you know, lots of young kids trafficking to their site to buy supplements and, and that free content. It's nice because it's free.

• 1:05:49Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:05:50Speaker 02

  But um, yeah, so that's, that's my social media. I like engaging with people on there. And then of course, expos, lots of expos.

• 1:05:57Lewis Howes?

  So if you're at the next expo, come give you a hug.

• 1:05:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. Next expo, Olympia, Las Vegas, Nevada.

• 1:06:03Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 1:06:03Speaker 02

  The Olympia.

• 1:06:04Lewis Howes?

  There you go. So SteveCookHealth.com is the main site to go follow everything. Awesome. I want to take a moment to acknowledge you, Steve, for not being a douche.

• 1:06:15Lewis Howes?

  No, but seriously, I want to acknowledge you for, man, you went through a lot of challenges. You know, you went through a lot of challenges of losing your identity in sports, which I can relate to, to jumping to a marriage early on. And then I can only imagine the uncomfortableness, the guilt, the shame, the uncertainty, the unworthiness, or whatever feelings you had going through that. I can only imagine how challenging at a young age to experience that. And then to come out and better yourself and say, how can I be a better man? How can I serve? How can I give? And um, you know, to connect with you more, it's, it's been a pleasure, man. And I really want to acknowledge you for your gift of sincerity and being an authentic, real man in this world.

• 1:06:54Speaker 02

  I appreciate that. That was, that was, you know, Steve Weatherford mentioned you, you build people up and I gotta say, that was, I feel, I don't know, I feel extremely grateful for you having me on this show, but also like, I definitely appreciate what you're doing and uh, yeah, thank, I don't know, thank you for having me on this. This is, it was a good time, good opportunity.

• 1:07:12Lewis Howes?

  Of course. One final question.

• 1:07:13Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:07:14Lewis Howes?

  What's your definition of greatness?

• 1:07:16Speaker 02

  My definition of greatness, I think. My definition of greatness would be doing something that other people might not agree with all the time, but believing in it and then ultimately succeeding at it. And that, to me, is true greatness. Like, something you shouldn't necessarily succeed at, but through perseverance, through just hard work and believing and passion, you do that and overcome those trials, that is, that is true greatness. So I feel like, you know, there's, and there's, there's so many people out there that are doing that and not getting recognition for it. In our day and age, you know, the people that are doing really true greatness might not be the people that have the most followers on Instagram. They might be the quiet, quiet, humble leaders that are doing it in the communities and

• 1:08:01Speaker 02

  things like that. So I think, you know, for people out there listening, you know, try to, try to attach yourself with, with things that matter and aren't just getting a lot of, you know, play. Because our media especially, social media and media especially, tends to focus on the bad in this life. But, you know, there's so much good out there and, and, you know, celebrate that.

• 1:08:22Speaker 00

  The legend of Steve Cook.

• 1:08:23Speaker 02

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 1:08:24Speaker 00

  Appreciate it, man.

• 1:08:25Speaker 02

  I appreciate you.

• 1:08:27Speaker 00

  All right. We broed out. We talked about vulnerability. We talked about masculinity. We talked about how to get big. We talked about building a bigger business. We talked about so much. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with your friends. LewisHowes.com/359. Make sure to tweet Steve and connect with him on Facebook and Instagram and, and tag me and Steve on Twitter and Facebook to let us know what you thought of this. Share your thoughts, connect, and follow along the journey. We do this every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so if this is your first time on the School of Greatness podcast, then make sure to click the subscribe button over on iTunes or the podcast app on your phone.

• 1:09:08Speaker 00

  And stay tuned, because each week we've got inspiring guests, interviews, and insights. And coming up next week, we've got the legendary Larry King. That's right, Larry King is live in my studio, and we're going to reveal some of his incredible stories, insights, and lessons from interviewing over 60,000 people. I am pumped to share with you. This interview, so stay tuned for that. It's been awesome spending some time with you today. It means the world to me and I will never take it for granted. I'm constantly doing my best to become a better host. And to continue to produce this podcast at a higher level. So that it brings you a wealth of information and you keep coming back. And with that, let me leave you with this. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.