Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
Nicholas Allen: Fitness, Sobriety & Mental Health After the Military
In this energizing episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero reconnects with friend and fellow veteran Nicholas Allen for a wide-ranging conversation on the intersections of fitness, mental health, and personal development.
Together, they dive into the struggles of balancing work, education, and recovery after injury—while maintaining a disciplined training schedule. Nicholas opens up about how his mindset has evolved post-military, how nutrition and sobriety have influenced his fitness journey, and why community and accountability are crucial for long-term success.
From alcohol awareness to injury rehab, mental wellness to veteran transition stories—this episode is packed with honest reflection, tactical advice, and plenty of humor. Whether you're a veteran, athlete, or someone on the path to personal growth, you'll walk away inspired.
🎧 Tune in and join the conversation on building resilience through fitness, mindset, and community.
👉 Be sure to follow, like, share, and subscribe to Security Halt! on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts for more veteran-driven stories and mental health advocacy.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Personal Updates
02:53 Education and Career Development
05:59 Fitness Journey and Alcohol Awareness
09:03 Overcoming Injuries and Physical Therapy
11:56 The Importance of Community and Support
15:09 Nutrition and Training Strategies
18:08 Mental Health and Self-Reflection
20:47 Navigating Transition Challenges
25:23 Building Community and Connection
30:30 The Importance of Humor and Support
35:14 Embracing the Journey of Fitness
41:51 Future Aspirations and Collaborations
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Follow Nicholas on social media and check out his podcast too!
Instagram: lesserknownoperators
Podcast: Lesser Known Operators
Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Odd Podcast. Let's go the only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent, it's hosted by me, Danny Caballero.
Speaker 2:It's decent. It's hosted by me, denny Caballero. I got a bad habit of pressing post on Instagram yeah, 0, 0, 0, 1 seconds before I go live. And then in my ear, here it's just ding, ding, ding, reminding me how stupid I am. You're a ding, you're an, an idiot. So just one more click there, then we can get sit down and be comfortable. How are you doing, man?
Speaker 1:doing good man bringing loaded deck ready to go again. I'll be ready for this semester to be over with, or my workload kind of slows down for a little bit, but I gotta, I gotta sign up for my classes.
Speaker 2:Jealous, you know, I'm jealous and not jealous of you guys that are able to do the schooling and anything else all at the same time.
Speaker 1:You can do it you can fucking do it.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know, I can I'm gonna, I'm gonna fucking listen, man 180 alpha.
Speaker 1:You right now, nicholas. You've done harder things in life. You can fucking do this. It's just scheduling. Yeah, I can also mow my lawn.
Speaker 2:Things in life, you can fucking do this, it's just scheduling yeah, I can also mow my lawn and I ain't gonna fucking do it don't be that dirtbag.
Speaker 1:Like my neighbor motherfucker lives. This shit grows like higher than me and it's like all right, I'll mow it. And then he's mowing it at night.
Speaker 2:I'm like motherfucker not to get political and not to get into um. You're gonna laugh at this. This is okay. I'm being serious. I'm serious. I'm starting to worry about mario and what's going on in the news. He hasn't come to ask about mowing the lawn yet this year and I don't think he was able to get back in from mexico when he left in november. Um, because he's been here by now and now. No, nobody from the family's been here. So I'm like worried about this guy that I don't even know. His last name another victim, I don't know and I I doubt mario's going to listen to this, but I hope you're doing all right, dude. I have a feeling.
Speaker 1:Mario right now is trapped deep in the jungles of darien gap in panama, trying desperately to make it back home to guatemala I.
Speaker 2:I hope he's doing okay. Um, we we had a weird relationship because he didn't speak English and I barely speak Spanish, so the yard was always fucked up. I hope he comes back.
Speaker 1:God willing. Vaya con Dios, mario, wherever you may be.
Speaker 2:So we're interviewing for the position? I guess is what we're saying.
Speaker 1:There's an opening. You're saying there's a spot. You know I'm always looking for revenue. Wisconsin ain't that far from me.
Speaker 2:I can make it up there yeah, how did we get to this conversation? Me talking about how I'm not going to community college in my in my spare eight minutes a day?
Speaker 1:hey, man, you can you go to some reputable schools online sure yeah, I can do a lot of things.
Speaker 1:I can do a lot of things if you have the passion for it, if you want to uh, if you want to do it, there's a lot of things. If you have the passion for it, if you want to uh, if you want to do it, there's a lot of dudes that are getting into the the same space that we're both in now, bringing in podcasting and media and um, they're diving in. I mean, that's one of the first things I did is I went to Berkeley for some audio designs, uh courses and um, they weren't too bad, definitely learned a lot, but it's whatever you're passionate for, you can find a way to do it. And vrne is great, gi bill is great. I always tell people, man, if you're in that space and you want to chase it down, fucking be willing to lean into it.
Speaker 1:We got a lot of great dudes that have a lot of insight into what schools you need or what schooling you could potentially find yourself in when it comes to like new media, like audio and video stuff. So Cameron Cushman is a good one. He's been in the space for a long time. Not a soft guy. Infantry dude Veteran made Shout out to that homie. He's been in production and film for a long time, for a long time air force veteran doing great shit, um, and his work, like his stuff, is fucking primo. He's been hired out and been doing things for like nascar, so if you're interested in that, there's way to do it.
Speaker 2:You know I'm kind of the opportunities that are coming from me, not being a alcoholic are starting to present themselves. You didn't think I was going to say that, did you?
Speaker 1:no, but that's something that I'm passionate about. Uh.
Speaker 2:Advocating for uh oh no, I no, I'm pro getting wasted. I think everybody should do it.
Speaker 1:I'm on the other side of it. I'm anti.
Speaker 2:For me it's over. Those days have passed. Go have your fun, Just to be able to admit when it's time to retire from the three-day benders.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's more to life than drinking. And don't think I mean, you're a performance animal like anybody that's looking for an edge. Just do the do a quick analysis, man. Alcohol is, uh, not a performance enhancing drug.
Speaker 2:No, um, after we finish, I'm gonna go on a friend of mine's show and we're gonna nerd out on some health and fitness stuff. It's a review of a different song, but that doesn't matter. But the basic base is if you're not, if you're drinking, you can't do anything to dig yourself out of that hole with fitness, right? You're fighting at that point, not against your genetics or your ability to, you're fighting just against the alcohol and you're not going to win because it takes such a toll on you. Anything you do. You could have a perfect routine and if you have three drinks a night, it's all fucking for zero, were you?
Speaker 1:were you always into fitness prior to getting into military, or was it something that you developed while you were in?
Speaker 2:sports as a little kid and then got into wrestling and then in high school got back into wrestling again, was good at that, but as far as strength and pushing the limits, that wasn't really till I joined the military, because you know, you get into bartending. I got bartending when I was 21, 22, 23 and that's kind of a self-destructive cycle. When you're that age and you're working behind the bar, and especially at a bar where if somebody bought you a drink you were taking it, so you're having 20. Okay, people will fucking say there's no way you're having 20 to 50 drinks a night. I don't fucking know how we did it. You just did it and you don't know how you got home. But then you do the same thing the next night. You work four of those in a row, that's brutal dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we lived with everybody that worked at the bar. It was like this self-destructive family I had a lot of fun, wouldn't change anything. Destructive family I had a lot of fun, wouldn't change anything. It's fucking blast, uh. But from the time I stopped that and joined the military, like switch, I got to busy training, it was completely different person. Okay, this is what our focus is. We're gonna, we're gonna do this. That underlying drinking culture stayed there, yeah, until a little over a year ago. So I was always fighting against that. But always, you know, I could run really fast and then, once I started getting stronger and bigger, I started running slower. And then that peaked in SF when I was really strong. And then slow, just pretty slow, and now I'm really fast and really strong. So I've evened it out with the stopping drinking and. But like I can do a 50 meter subsurface, I can get on the treadmill and run a five minute mile and I can bench four or five or bench four plates, squat five plates and we're working on a six plate deadlift.
Speaker 1:So and that's. That's sort of what every new I mean. Can we? Yeah, I guess we can call that hybrid athlete. Before it was either in there's more of those guys now on on the teams. Before it was, either you're a dive guy, which is like cardio, cardiovascular, super freak, or you're a free fall guy and you're just built like a fucking brick shit house and that's all you want to do. It's like how can I get bigger? Like, what did you have to do on the backside? It was like you know, your story is unique in that you had to also overcome and readapt after a traumatic brain injury. Like, how did you approach healing and then get back? Because I would imagine that lifting had to take a backseat for a while.
Speaker 2:It did a little bit. But then you know, after a year because we went to Korea and I was back in the gym, I had a nice little group of guys and we were always there at five in the morning, going to the gym the only ones there and just got back into the routine of it. I still get and I can't seem to do anything about it a pain that comes from probably the base of my neck all the way up into here. It's like a. It feels like it's just like a rope and it just hurts. Um and.
Speaker 2:But I've found that the stronger my back is, the stronger my shoulder is, the stronger my neck is. The traps doing farmer's carries, just working on all that, I've got it so strong that it hurts less. So I've found that as I get this way yeah, I'm hurting from training and these lifts and being heavy, but I'm so strong that all the other shit it's not there anymore, that little shit that used to hurt. It's just like it's held together and I feel good. So I feel, like a lot of guys, back pain and knee pain, which is legitimate.
Speaker 2:I'm not discounting it Absolutely, but a lot some of that if you stick to those physical therapy regimens with the little stuff, and then you get those little muscles taken care of and then you start working on your bigger muscles and it starts to just kind of suck everything up. You can eliminate some of that that. Obviously, some of that's not going to be taken care of. You're going to be if you've, you know, completely destroyed your l3, l4, you know you got a fused back. There's only so much you can do, yeah, but if you've got minor injuries and stuff, you can rehab them, um, and tighten everything up. That's a very unscientific approach to it, but it's just like gym bro, knowledge right, you know, sometimes it's built on some actual wisdom, like the lower chain, for example.
Speaker 1:Like we don't pay attention to the small muscles that impact everything on our lower back.
Speaker 1:I had no idea that working out consistently lower chain, doing lower body which traditionally for a lot of guys you don't want to do legs, you don't want to do squats only to a certain point and then when you get injured you don't want to go back in there because it'll be injured. But the reality is like everything's connected your heel, the way your foot's striking when you run, when you walk. You want to get those extra comfy shoes but that's actually like hindering your ability to rehab those muscles by constantly being in those comfy, soft shoes. Like you have to work those little muscles and you have to accept that you're going to be in some discomfort until you get a certain amount of strength and consistency in those workouts to actually improve your posture, improve the way you're striking with your feet and your mobility. That shit works. Like you said earlier, you have to listen to your physical therapist. You have to be willing to go do those stupid workouts that don't look cool, abandoned workouts. I understand it's not fun, but there's benefit to it.
Speaker 2:No, and little stuff like doing your calf raises. You know there's nothing, nobody cares. And the other thing like big legs right, you let your legs carry everywhere and you know who likes big legs? Dudes, that's it. Yeah, you never see a chick go oh, look at those. You never see them say anything about it. We're all getting bigger just to impress other dudes. You know, if you're out there and you're lonely, you're lonely, bring your bench up to 405 pounds and someone will love you. They just might be a dude.
Speaker 1:So but community is important, Friendship and connection is important, Like and uh, that's go to the gym, go work out.
Speaker 2:Go to the gym every day. But here's the problem, and you said earlier right, how did you get through it? Well, now I've learned with the internet and all these resources and stuff. I've learned to pull back. Where common is? You got to get in the gym every day of the week, twice a day.
Speaker 2:That's really not ideal because as you're aging your ability to recover on your own, and then if you're a veteran and you might have untreated hormone imbalance or something like that, you really can't recover. So if you're not checking that, if you're not really taking care of the basics and you dive into something seven days a week, you might as well do nothing because you're going to be hurting yourself, you're going to push yourself towards an injury much faster than if you just hydrated and walk 10 000 steps a day, yeah. So to get the most now is to pull back. I do three strength sessions a week an hour, tops, if I'm by myself, 45 minutes. Um, and then cardio three days a week. So my off days are cardio, and then I have a totally off day on saturday because the gym's too busy. But, um, the amount I lift is so much less than people think it is and I've gotten. I've seen more results from that. Yeah, when I do lift seven to nine sets total. But they're, they're brutal, they're heavy, they're, they're and you said earlier, comfort, right, they're not comfortable. Yeah, they're pushing past that point. And then you're stimulating whatever you want to get strength or muscle growth, whatever you want to get at, and things like that. But and and then when I'm out of the gym, I'm backing it up with 250 grams of protein a day, most of that from whole foods beef um chicken, very little chicken, but mostly beef. I drink a lot of milk Um 90,. 95% of my diet is beef, rice and milk, and that's it.
Speaker 2:And my one doctor was amazed. I asked her can you run my blood work? And it was perfect. She couldn't believe it. I said, well, what's your blood work? Look like of your people that don't eat like that. She said, well, it's atrocious. I said, well, then, why the fuck are you amazed at that? And I don't know.
Speaker 2:You went to law, you went to uh, you know metal and I didn't you're a doctor, god damn it. So she's left me alone. After that she's. She's like yeah, I guess you're doing something right.
Speaker 1:So yeah it's, it's ridiculous, the there's a lot of fads. And the other thing, too, is programming right. Like you, I've seen I met a lot of dudes that follow the same thing, never, change it constantly, and it's like they're always upset because they're not seeing any gains and it's like, well, are you challenging yourself? Like you're not even sweating, dude, like you come in here and you do the same program every day, day in and day out. Like your body adapts, your body adapts. You are going to need to constantly look at and that's why I love having a trainer man. It makes it simple. Just when I get to the point where it's like, oh, this is easier, then I know by the time I come into the gym the next day, my shit's about to get rocked.
Speaker 1:This program's going to be completely fucking different. Thank you, by the way, terry, terry Wilson, if you're looking for a trainer, terry, the trailer, he will not let you down. It's enjoyable to have something that changes. And, dude, there's a lot of knowledge. A lot of people shit on guys that go to the gym and they take their fitness seriously to the point where it's like dialed in. There's a lot of sacrifice that comes into developing that knowledge and maintaining it. Have you thought about going the coach route and taking all this knowledge that you've developed over the past years and open spread that to other people?
Speaker 2:I have I love what all the other guys are doing, that they've gotten out and been able to make a business out of this. I'm really liking what I'm doing now and if I can keep pushing that with some of the other things I don't know. I also don't want to push myself in too many directions right now. But to circle back what you said, right, sam Sulik said it really good. Do you know who Sam Sulik is?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, being big is a flex. It's actually the ultimate flex because you can't buy that shit, you can't be given it. It's not something that comes overnight, that takes years of meals and dedication and going to the gym at 5 in the morning or your regular time or whatever. You can't be given that shit to be big and strong and you can include fast. You know you can't be given that shit to be big and strong and you can include fast. You know you can't just run a three-hour marathon. I guess some people can, but they're that but you can't just do some of these things and be given all that shit. That's a big flex.
Speaker 2:And when you finally get to that point where you can look at the mirror and say, fuck yeah, that is an amazing feeling and it's a shame that more people won't put in the necessary time to get to that, because there's no regrets when you get to like that, how you feel, how other people treat you because it's your introduction right. Other people treat you because it's your introduction right. When you introduce yourself to people, they're looking at you and saying is this person who they say they are? Is their reputation exuding from them when they come up and say hey, my name's Nick Nice to meet you.
Speaker 2:Am I backing up, using special forces as a Green Beret as a resume, as a stepping stone to introduce myself to people, to come and talk to people about my opinions and things? Do I embody that? You can't be given any of that stuff physically and you have to work for it and it's, it is helpful. You get a trainer, you get somebody advising you and you get a mentor. Um, I don't know, am I? I don't know if I'm considered myself worthy of doing that yet at this point. I think I need to prove myself in other areas. But that's just me, the voice in my head that we all fight with Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everybody has that Every. It's good to have that, that voice that checks you, as long as it's not destructive.
Speaker 2:Oh, it is destructive for everybody, because when you get out of the service, it's just you. You're the boss and there's no sergeant telling you what to do anymore. First sergeant, sergeant, major, whoever was in charge of you, and it's just you and your voice in your head. That voice can lead you all kinds of different directions. It can amplify the one bad thing that happened in your day over the hundreds of good things that happened in your day and you'll just have that negative bias and focus on that one thing, because that's all it is, is there and you're listening to that and you focus in on that. And then, oh, now I'm going to go down a negative path and be sad. I'm not going to reach out to my friends, I'm not going to, you know, be there for somebody. It just can snowball into all these other things. We all have it. And if you're out there, if you're like, no, I don't have that, yeah, you do, you do, it's there.
Speaker 2:Just look at the way we focus always on the negative. Think back to any vacation you had, or get together the stupid bad things that happened. Those are the ones that are going to stand out when you're in sports as a kid. All your losses. That's going to stand out. I remember all my losses. I don't remember really any of my wins when I was in sports in high school. I remember the time I wasn't prepared enough. The negative Focus on that. You know all the bad shit that happened in the military. People focus on that. It's unfortunately like a race. Everyone's in a race to have the worst time. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. I had a shittier time than you. That's, that's not the way to look at things. Let's just enjoy in the humor and things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to actively look for the good right, so the automatically that critic will amplify the negative. Well, it takes a little bit of work, but you have to focus on the good. You have to sit down and allow yourself to think back to the good things the moment that negativity comes in. Like actively search for the good. It's hard, especially when you transition. Getting out of the military is not easy Like we used to think, I know. I used to think that. Well, certainly it's easier for you know officers or people that have made it through 30 years of service. Now, everybody struggles with it. Everybody has their own journey to go through with it. What was yours like? What was your? What was the biggest challenge you faced when you were coming through that journey?
Speaker 2:Me, yeah, I was the biggest challenge. Yeah, me, yeah, I was the biggest challenge. I medically retired I didn't want to be angry about that and, moving back to the Midwest, and I, I got, I got here and I got to my job and I realized it was not what they had billed it to be and I called my wife I mean, I had only been there a couple hours and I think I went. I think we made a huge mistake and we did, we did, but we, we stuck it through, continued to work there. They've eliminated my position after a year and a half, but you know, it was a weird culture. There was a lot of military people but there was no work. So I didn't have a purpose. There's just no purpose this whole time. And then there were a lot of factors that hindered me, or I made excuses in my mind to I didn't work on myself. So a year and a half there, that goes away. Covid comes, and then I took a sales job great at first, and then I realized I'm just doing the same shit every day, over and over again. Even though I'm making a lot of money, I'm not enjoying what I'm doing. And then that came to an end, end of last year.
Speaker 2:But this whole time, you know, you don't realize that you just I'm going to have a drink. Or you don't realize how good you are at drinking compared to normal people. We were very good at it in the team room. You're very good at team parties yeah, you're. The military is tier one. If there was a unit for drinking we'd be up there. Maybe not as good as the germans, um, but we're fucking good at it. And uh, you just continue that and you don't realize that you stand out as much as you do when you get in the civilian world, drink a whole bottle of vodka at a party and then, uh, you kind of everybody's not on that same level, so you're standing out and becoming a fucking asshole and that anger of getting out and not dealing with it and just coping by drinking more and pushing like a pause button.
Speaker 2:I'm going to take care of that problem in my head tomorrow. I'm going to deal with that tomorrow and get to the point where you can't drink at all anymore. I don't drink at all anymore. I don't drink at all, and that was really it. As I said earlier, I'm not. I'm not pro anti-drinking, like, if you want to have. If you can deal with it, that's great. I did deal with it until I couldn't, and then it's over. There's no more of that, but I was the biggest thing that stood in the way of transitioning out well, but since starting this, would I change anything? Do I regret anything? No, I wouldn't change a fucking thing. I'm enjoying what I'm doing now.
Speaker 2:Uh, the opportunities are starting to present themselves from when you start getting your shit back together and you can start hearing the friends around you. But the and I was gonna make a reel about this last night and I decided to wait until today to talk to you about it. I since january 1st no, let me back up from getting out. I lost that's community, right. We got a great community in sf. Fucking guys, that'll be there for you. Um, the, the camaraderie, the team life, the fucking, just the feeling of being a green beret amazing, you're just a warm fucking blanket and some hot cocoa or however ted lasso would say it.
Speaker 2:You know he'd really church that up. But losing that, thinking I lost it. And then coming to the midwest, where there's nobody here in wisconsin I joke that I'm the most famous green beret in wisconsin and somebody said, well, how many are there? I was like there's three, so there's nobody here. So there are. Now I've got a small group together but to ice being isolated.
Speaker 2:And since starting this show on January January 1st or something on or about my show I built myself this little community using technology, instagram and the podcast and messaging people and just trying to do stuff for the community to get back in touch, to bring that brotherhood back in like a digital form. And you got to work at it because I don't know what I'm doing on Instagram, I didn't know what I'm doing with the show, but I'm a completely different person from 2024 to I am now, because I feel like there's people I can just reach out to now, or that they're only just a message away, and I had to build that. It's a very small thing right now and you've got it. You're way, way farther down the road than I am and it's got to feel amazing that you have this network. You've built another special forces group around yourself that you have there, and nobody did it for you. Nobody made all those posts or those instagram or started recording or all these other things. And if somebody listening wants that, you're going to have to build yourself your own little community and you're going to have to take the initiative, because all the answers are out there. You can ask chat, gpt or you can. You can ask these questions and they'll reply to you as people, or watch a YouTube video on how somebody did it.
Speaker 2:But you can make that community, bring back that sense of belonging, because I have found nothing but positivity from our community when I reach out to people and ask them to come on the show, or hey, will you collaborate with me on this post? Or what do you think of this post? Or what do you think of this? Or how do you, how do you think of this? Can you help me with this? I have a question here. Nothing but positivity and we go back to that voice in our head that only dwells on the negativity. You got to get that shit out of your head and that's tough. I had it today, just telling myself what kind of a piece of shit I am and I go, no, that's, that's not it, we got to just, let's just get to a baseline and I get on with Denny and then I get to talk it out with him some sort of therapy and it just feel better, like I feel better from just talking to you now for half an hour. It's great.
Speaker 1:It's tough though, isn't it? It's the same thing we did at selection or any course you went through. Like when, when you have, when you have the ability to just sit down with a friend, even when you're just digging out a fighting position, how many times did you just crack a joke or say something to keep your spirits up with somebody in the middle of the worst day ever? And we've been doing it for eons as warriors just being able to connect with somebody that has a lived experience similar to yours that can give you a moment of like. Yeah, I'm not alone. I'm not fucking alone. Some guys don't want therapy, and I've come to understand that some guys aren't ready and aren't willing to go there. But what if all they need for that moment to keep them going is a friend and just humor? I can do that. I can do that. If you're not ready to go talk to a provider, that's okay. It's your journey. I have to accept that, that no matter what I do, no matter how much, how great I make it sound like some people aren't ready, but if I can still be there for you as a friend, to laugh, that can help you and I'm willing to do that, and that's the same thing that I've found through this, doing this, being able to make somebody laugh on Instagram. We have no idea how many lives we've saved. And that's not. That's not hyperbole, that's not an exaggeration. I know it because I've gotten I've gotten emails, I've gotten DMs from people like dude I wasn't in a good space yesterday and I finally admitted it and I'm willing to start getting help, but laughing at that meme you put out there, like I needed that, thank you. And same thing for me. I have shitty days and somebody will hit back like bro, your shit's on fire. We were laughing about it on the fucking team room today. I'm like dude, thank you for sharing that because I fucking needed that today. I needed that. We dude, thank you for sharing that, because I fucking needed that today. I needed that, dude.
Speaker 1:I don't know what you guys think, but no matter what you go through, no matter how much like 5-MeO-DMT and how much therapy like, you're still going to have bad days. You're still going to have bad days. That's life and it's okay to admit that. It's okay to say like, hey, I have every tool available and still some days I'm going to have a bad day and that's okay Because I know that I can look at that schedule and say, hey, tomorrow I'm going to reset, I'm going to re-engage and I'm going to be okay. But I can be.
Speaker 1:I can, I can sit here and I can say like man, this sucks right now, today sucks, but I have the. I have the ability to finally understand that tomorrow will come and it'll be a better day. And it's a great reminder getting into those emails, getting those comments because not every comment is going to be bad, some are good and just knowing that the team, the greater military veteran space, are good people out there to support you. That's why I tell people like if you want to get in this space, it's work, but it's worth it. If you have a good message, if you have a voice and you're willing to champion a cause, get involved. You never know what your positive impact will be.
Speaker 2:No, you don't know who's listening. I'm so happy that I'm in the hundreds of listeners. Do you know what? A hundred people? That's so many people. Yeah, it's so awesome. I think of every follower. I'm like fuck, yeah, that's awesome, one more followers. You know it's one more, but it's one more follower. Yeah, if you only got a few people that listen to your show, those people, those people might not be wanting to reach out to you, but they want to know how you're doing.
Speaker 2:I'm a little fish, like I just started. I just started this. I'm I'm nowhere near right now. Little fish right now. Little fish right now.
Speaker 2:But but you know, um, get yourself out there, make yourself, and it doesn't have to be this. There's all kinds of shit emerging now that wasn't, didn't exist 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Um, fuck dude, uh, 20 years ago I didn't have a cell phone, yeah, you know, and before that there wasn't. Really, it wasn't a thing. So over our lifetime things have completely changed. How are things going to be in five years or 10 years? We don't know. But you said most people don't want to go to therapy. You know, traditional view of therapist, of a therapist in an office, a stuffy office, and you got to sit in a waiting room with fucking other people and not look at them like you're in an elevator and somebody just shit their pants. Therapy can be other things. Many people that go to the gym but gym is my therapy Fuck yeah, if the gym's, your therapy, go seven days a week, do it right, fucking. Look up how to do that shit so you don't over train.
Speaker 2:There are a lot of trainers that they you say if I don't go to the gym I have a fucking. I have like panic. People have panic attacks. If they don't go to the gym they lose their mind. Well, all right, let's start at seven days and see if we can work you into something else. A good trainer will work with you to keep you in the game and to keep you from hurting yourself. You can work with that If your diet's not. You know, working, having somebody else work in something to help you, that's therapy. That is working on something to better yourself. So don't get hung up on going and hanging out in office with somebody you don't know, that doesn't understand your back. Well, in your mind they don't understand what you've gone through, only in your mind. They do because they're professional and if it's not a good fit, find somebody else, trade a trade of you're that person in the office for a coach in the gym, and then they trust you. They might refer to you to their therapist that they work with, and then that's somebody that understands them. You trust this person and you will work your network that way instead of this direction shift.
Speaker 2:It's all easy to say, though I say this stuff. It's very easy to say um, yeah, and, but to put it into action, just one thing at a time. Just do one thing at a time and you might adjust that over a couple days or weeks. Like adding creatine to your daily regimen, right, well, get in the habit of it and then I'm feeling kind of good with this. What else can I change? Because now you're in a habit, you got a month or two of doing it.
Speaker 2:Add something else. Be like, oh, you know, I'm gonna walk a couple extra flights of stairs when you start doing that and you keep adding up the principle. But people fail in these endeavors because they try to do too much, too fast. Yeah, and you, once you realize that you can't do that and you fail it seven days a week, two times a day, then you'll go down to zero times a day, zero times a week, two times a day. Then you'll go down to zero times a day, zero times a week, really quickly because you just just you. You broke yourself, and that'll apply to any area of your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's true, approach it with beginner's mind. Even if you've been a seasoned athlete, even if you've been a fucking gym rock star and then you just fell off the wagon for a few years, there's nothing wrong with viewing things as being a beginner. Start from a fucking slow, progressive plan of action that gets you where you want to be and enjoy the process. Shit's not about the fucking destination of being this fucking jacked forever, leaf, forever fit dude like. Fall in love with the ugly shit. Fall in love with waking up early. Fall in love with getting out there and being a shitty runner. Just fall in love with that process and you will get better each and every day.
Speaker 1:And I think when you are your forties, like, a lot of guys start to think like, oh, I don't have, I can slack, I can, I can put on a few extra pounds, I don't have to really worry about being super fit and I'm like well, do you want to be around for your kids? Do you want to be, you know, a good role model for the people in your life? And if you do, like, you have to take your physical fitness as an important part of your life, like it's longevity. You're not going to stick around longer by eating junk food and sitting on the couch. You're not Make it part of your life again. Like we talk about discomfort a lot on the show, you're not Make it part of your life again.
Speaker 1:We talk about discomfort a lot on the show. Embrace it. You were a man of purpose before you can do it again. Everybody loves a comeback. I'm sure you're out of shape, you're not in your best fit and you don't have the greatest habits. Boom. You can start right now. You can start right now. Just look at life where you're at right now and decide that you want to be better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're going to have to. You do something because you either have to or you want to, and it's best to want to, but sometimes you have to do it. That crazy statistic right, the number one cause of bankruptcy in Americaica is medical bills. Right, yeah, and god, this is something that we can influence. You know you can't. You can't influence somebody. T-bone you in the light, running red light right, you can't unforeseen things that happen to you.
Speaker 2:But your health and your longevity, that's's something that's on you Once you're an adult. I get it. Yeah, sometimes it's expensive, but fucking being unhealthy not only is that unhealthy, that's painful and then gets expensive on top of it. Learning the way to proper ways to do things, making small changes, not doing too much, you're going to feel a lot better. And it's easy to say because trainers they'll tell you, the hardest thing about getting clients is you're just selling a story, a future that doesn't exist. It's a fairy tale until they start inserting themselves into that tail and acting out all of the plays along the way. You have to hit all of these things to get to the fairytale ending. And there is no fairytale ending because, fuck, I mean, I've hit now every fitness goal I've ever wanted to do, and now I'm like, oh fuck, it's not enough. I get there, but you got to keep pushing towards the next thing.
Speaker 1:Combining stuff and making it, making it fun, um yeah and I think next year you're gonna do the savage loop with me and, uh, our team come down to florida you know it's a it's, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:So me, nick ward, uh, not a big fan of those things, that's cool. I did some hard stuff. But lesser operators, the guy who runs that, nicholas Allen, he might be down for something like that because to further the brand and to get things out there and network. But uh, nick Ward, the uh owner, no, he's not down for it, but probably the, the host of lesser known operators, would be down for it.
Speaker 1:So I love that. I love how you split your personalities for that. Uh, yeah, dude, um, we'll talk, we'll. Uh, let's plan this out, man, because I think it'd be fucking rad to to bring you along the security hall team. For next year's. I made a commitment. We going to do two brutal things every year, one at the beginning of the year, one at the end of the year, and we're going to always do the Savage Loop as a team. So next year's Savage Loop is like this is the first year, it was brutal and now we're back in the training mode for it and we're trying to bring in as many people as we can onto the security hall team. I'd like to roll deep. I'm talking like at least five people like to see five, five people join up. We got three so far. If Nicholas Allen joins us, we'd have four.
Speaker 2:That motherfucker's down for anything. You know he's like oh fuck, you know, can I wear a lesson room operator's t-shirt?
Speaker 1:he'll hold himself out for anything further.
Speaker 2:The brand you want to collaborate, sure fuck yeah me. I mean, fuck, that sounds terrible it is.
Speaker 1:It is, but in the best of ways.
Speaker 2:It's always fun everybody who says that about running for fucking 80 miles, it's like.
Speaker 1:It's so exhilarating like fuck dude, I gotta take a dump yeah, but the cool thing is what I, what I, what I would like to do next year it's yeah, yeah, you shit your pants and then, uh, when you're done, we do a full podcast afterwards with uh some of the folks that uh competed in it.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, we gotta do it. I got my. I'm not gonna announce it now because then somebody will fucking jump out there and beat me to it, but the I do have my fitness project. That's top secret that I'm working on it.
Speaker 2:We're getting. We're getting close to being able to record. I think somewhere in june or july we're going to record and post it and my goal for the year is I want to have a million view video and what I'm gonna do, I think I'll get there. Uh, so I I didn't find, haven't found anybody that's done it. Um, very excited about it and uh, hopefully people are gonna be like that's how that that looks pretty tough, so we'll see, but yeah, it's hard to find stuff that pushes.
Speaker 2:it's hard to find stuff that pushes the envelope. With this stuff People are like, oh, that's impressive, so I'll find my little thing and try on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. We have to collaborate on some big brand ideas and I got to bring you into the fold of what we're planning for our soft creators conference. Yeah, I think it'll be up your alley, I think you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 2:I think you and I have the same thing. I had a similar idea in my head that I wanted to talk to you about, but I figured you had something already going.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well we're not going to tell you guys. Obviously, on this podcast you have to wait. This is great radio here, Great radio.
Speaker 2:Just two people alluding to things like we're in the hallway like talking about ASO level three bullshit that doesn't fucking exist and you don't get to know about it until it's ready to pop, you don't get to know about it.
Speaker 1:Nicholas Allen, Lesser. Known Operators. Where can we find your podcast and get your insights on a daily basis?
Speaker 2:Everywhere that you guys listen to podcasts Spotify, youtube, apple Podcasts Remember to like, subscribe, share and pass it along to your friends at Lesser Known Operators everywhere.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, dude. Thank you so much for joining us today and to everybody listening, do me a favor, I'll pause right now. I'll wait it to the very end again. Do me a favor, I'm going to be dramatic. Take off the glasses, go on Spotify, apple Podcasts, youtubes. Leave us a like, share, share an episode. Leave us a comment or two. I don't know Whatever you want to put on there. Denny fucking sucks fucking glasses today. He's a fucking boner. A chode. Write that. You know what. Just write chode on one of the either podcasts, the descriptions of the episodes, or on YouTube. Whatever you want, do it please. Algorithm will help push that episode along and help me grow, and I'll be forever grateful for you, everybody listening. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Until then, and updates, and remember we get through this together. If you're still listening, the episode's over. Yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week, thank you.
