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096 - Recovery Nobody Talks About w/ Rebecca Rouse & Joel Del Rosario
126 Plays15 days ago
What does twenty years of service actually cost your body — and what can you do about it before the bill comes due?
In this episode of the Captains & Coaches Podcast, I sat down with Rebecca Rouse and Joel Del Rosario, co-founders of Machine Strength, a human performance company built for the tactical and first responder world. Rebecca brings the coaching expertise. Joel brings the lived experience — including surviving an IED strike in 2007 that nearly ended his career over a decade early.
Together they're doing something most people in their world aren't — talking honestly about recovery. Not just the physical side, but the sleep, the stress, the mobility work nobody makes time for, and the mindset shifts that separate the people who make it to retirement healthy from the ones who don't make it there at all.
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Transcript
The Importance of Fitness for Leaders
00:00:00
Speaker
developing our career we tend to let go of certain things and that is physical performance but we got to continuously be an asset to our team and not a liability in order to do that with the things that we do you have to maintain your physical fitness so leaders everywhere especially if you're in a physical job or something that requires physical performance, set the standard for yourself as well. If not, have a higher standard for yourself because then you'll have a lot more buy-in from your team and it's a win-win situation because then you can retire healthy.
Podcast Introduction: Captains and Coaches
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond.
00:00:46
Speaker
I'm your host, Texan Kulkin, and today is all about the real recovery. The sleep you're skipping, the mobility you're ignoring, the stress you're carrying into bed every night, and the slow breakdown happening underneath the surface of a career built on toughness.
00:01:01
Speaker
Today's guests are changing that conversation.
Wellness for Tactical Communities
00:01:03
Speaker
Rebecca Rouse is a performance coach, public speaker, and co-founder of Machine Strength, a human performance company built specifically for tactical and first responder communities.
00:01:15
Speaker
Joel Del Rosario is a retired Marine and combat veteran who hit by an IED in 2007 and spent the better part of a decade learning, often the hard way, that recovery isn't weakness, it's the mission.
00:01:28
Speaker
Together they're bringing the conversation about physical wellness, sleep, mobility, stress management, and long-term longevity into rooms where it's rarely been welcome. We sit down in my home in Dripping Springs fresh off Joel's first tactical game skirmish and we got into all of it. The habits nobody builds until their body forces them to. The difference between sucking it up and breaking down and why the best thing a leader can do for their team is to take care of themselves first.
00:01:57
Speaker
This is the recovery nobody's talking about. With that, let's head it off to Rebecca and Joel to help us raise the game. Ready, ready and for break.
Joel's Tactical Games Experience
00:02:06
Speaker
Action. Welcome to Dripping Springs, Texas. Thank you both, Rebecca, Joel, for coming out this way, sitting down with me for the podcast.
00:02:14
Speaker
Thanks for having us. What brings y'all to town? Joel competed in his first ever Tactical Games skirmish this past weekend on Saturday. Awesome. Out in Burnett. Burnett or Burnett? Burnett, however you say it. I've heard Burnett.
00:02:28
Speaker
Okay, i've I've also heard the opposite. What role did you play in support? Did you make sure his sleep was dialed in? I wish, but we drove down from Dallas on Friday night. I was assisting at kettlebell certification on Friday. we finished at about 5 p.m., left to grab some dinner, drove down at 6, got here 9.30.
00:02:48
Speaker
And then we went to sleep and then had to get up at 5 a.m. So we didn't get a lot of enough sleep, but I made sure he had snacks and water and I got to play the sport role, which is very nice. a very nice change for me. I'm usually the athlete and he's a spectator and videographer and I got to do the Spectator videographer role this time. Yeah, ah that's fun. Now you can see and you get the the the creative role where you can direct it a certain way because now you're behind the camera yeah and so creates a good feedback loop for when we switch roles next time.
00:03:18
Speaker
Say, hey, this is the angle I'm looking for. Here's my creative direction. yep Get my good side. Get my good side. Is this your good side? Do we need to switch chairs? We'll be all right. okay This is my bad side, but it's fine.
00:03:30
Speaker
I need to learn how to expand my horizons. So this is great opportunity
The Role of Sauna in Recovery
00:03:33
Speaker
to do that. Yes. Well, Joel, walk us through the the tactical games experience. I know it exists, but i don't know what it's involved.
00:03:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's it was a lot of fun, first of all, and the experience I've been following the tactical games and their progression for a while now on social media. And it's always always seemed interesting and for those of you who don't know what it is. It's essentially fitness and shooting.
00:03:56
Speaker
ah So like if you take CrossFit and then you take a shooting competition and if those two things had a baby, that would be the tactical games.
00:04:07
Speaker
Well, CrossFit tried to do that. Mm hmm. with shooting. i don't remember how it worked out, but they didn't continue to do it, so not well. Yeah, so um i'm i'm assuming yeah I'm assuming it didn't go so well. I'm assuming they just let let the tactical games do their thing. Yeah.
00:04:21
Speaker
Well, I remember they did a softball toss one year, and it didn't make them look very athletic, so then they yeah tossed it out. No pun intended? Always. Every pun is intended. is me All right. And so, you know, reason.
Changing Ingrained Habits
00:04:38
Speaker
So thank you to Andrew Mitchell for connecting us. And then we have a lot of other mutual friends to give shout outs to. So Matt Spade and then the Hotbox Sana. Yeah.
00:04:50
Speaker
Version two. gee. so gee the OG. So shout out Brady. Brady's the man. And um yes, hot box experience. I got to give him some love.
00:05:01
Speaker
So what what is your experience with sauna? Does this help you with recovery? this help you with sleep? Yes, yes. What's a 30 second pitch for Brady that we can do him a solid?
00:05:13
Speaker
So sauna has been one of the most instrumental components to my evening routine, which we were just chatting about this morning about the the evening routine as opposed to the morning routine. But Having a solid evening routine leads to a solid night's sleep, which leads to maximizing the following day. And having the hotbox at home is just so convenient because it's smalls small size, small footprint. It plugs into your house power, heats up very quickly. You've got the combination of the traditional, the high heat of the traditional sauna plus the infrared bulbs. And it's just in my own little recovery cocoon. And I love it.
00:05:47
Speaker
And it's it's very aesthetically pleasing. Yes. it's So dear friend of mine, he puts it in his office. So he's got his nice office set up, and it's this beautiful cedar. And it actually adds to the room versus what is like a beautiful piece of furniture obnoxious and taking away.
00:06:02
Speaker
and So definitely check that out. I'll put a link in the show notes. And there's so much that I do want to cover, and we have the opportunity to get coffee. And what I want to highlight and aim
Standards in Military Fitness
00:06:13
Speaker
to recognize is is behavior change.
00:06:16
Speaker
The challenge with behavior change, there's so much habits that is instilled and rooted in us that we have to really arm wrestle and take away. In our conversation this morning, it started with the presidential fitness test.
00:06:31
Speaker
Well, when we were growing up, all we knew was the value of fitness, the value of health. And we don't see that anymore. So what anchors, what roots, what challenges do you start to see in the populations that you're working with that, hey, we learned this lesson in elementary school that maybe now these 20-somethings, they did not get because they threw that out?
00:06:55
Speaker
want to take one? Sure. Yeah. No, the... really is the the expectation management, right? So expectation management from the household, from from the high schools, from everyone we see, the expectation is that you, when you were taking the when we were taking the president presentation fit presidential fitness assessment or the test,
00:07:16
Speaker
The idea was that there is a standard and you either fall belowda below that standard, you meet the standard, you're above the standard. When you have no standard, then you don't know what to aim for.
00:07:31
Speaker
And for the most part, people who don't have a standard to meet will just go to the path of least resistance. ah And when it comes to fitness, ah health, longevity,
00:07:44
Speaker
we are going to take the path of least resistance unless we are educated on what the standards should be. And I think that's what the, when anything anytime you have an assessment, in the military, we have assessments.
00:07:56
Speaker
In the Marine Corps, we have assessments twice a year, and we have a standard. And ah how you perform in those tests twice a year, those assessments twice a year, will determine whether you're promotable or not.
00:08:09
Speaker
And will also determine whether you're ready for combat or not. ahha So there's there iss a huge importance and a very a critical thing that you when we have a standard,
00:08:22
Speaker
And we enforce that standard that allows us to then see where we where we fall in ourselves and then how we're doing for the future of ourselves or the future generations as well.
00:08:35
Speaker
And so now Rebecca, a question for you with assessments and standards. Guys, these their entire career, they're told whether they're essentially good or bad.
00:08:47
Speaker
So now you get the opportunity to connect with them for only two hours and aim to reframe that well, we got to reset the standard. We got to create new assessments for you personally daily.
00:08:59
Speaker
What's your approach there to almost break 20 years of career that they were told one way to do things. And then you honestly believe for their wellness that there's an infinite way for you to do stuff.
Sustainable Health Changes
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's important to really meet people where they are and recognize that we're not going to undo 20 years or 10 years or five years of habits in a day or a week or a month. It has to be ah a journey and it's a gradual progression. And I think that's the most important thing for sustainability is making sure that it's gradual because if we try to overhaul everything overnight, it's very, very unlikely to last.
00:09:33
Speaker
And so painting a picture of what the habit change process looks like, presenting the information and then the ball's in their court. So all we can do when we have such a short time with a group of people is again, share that information, why it's important, not just give a bunch of it of science, they're not going really care that much about the science, but okay, what is what's in it for me? Why do I need to know this information? How can I implement it? And in ah in a room full of first responders, you know, the the events we tend to present at mostly so far, at least has been, we got people at the beginning of their career, we got people somewhere in the middle, and then we got people towards the end of the career. And I think the the biggest potential for
00:10:10
Speaker
impact long-term is getting people in there earlier on in their career before they have those habits already ingrained in and before they're so ingrained in the culture of the first responder world and and the things that stack up over time. So presenting our own personal stories, but then also presenting stories of some of the veterans that I've worked with.
00:10:31
Speaker
And when I'm working with veterans who've already gotten out, they're done with their time in service and the things that they've You know, if i knew then what I, what I know now, I wish I had done these things earlier. I wish I had prioritized these things earlier and kind of walked down what that path looks like. If you do prioritize these things versus if you don't and have them put themselves in their own future self's shoes, what do you want your life to be like? Okay, now let's backtrack wherever you are right now. It's the daily, daily things, the daily habits, the daily investments that we make into our own bank account of wellness and health and longevity. that's what's going to paint the picture. I think people think it's like this big thing. It's really the small things that we do repeatedly. Yeah.
Addressing Wear and Tear in Military Personnel
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah. i like that. And how does machine strength to ah address specific wear, tear caused by different things that military's strapped up with? I mean, it changes per military population.
00:11:21
Speaker
What's, what are some of the things that you introduce as wear and tear? If you feel this, then, Hey, we can do this. Mobility is a big one. It's probably the most – it's the thing that everyone knows they need to do but just don't do it. And whether it's because time, you know when you they have limited time. Some don't get to work out on duty. Some do get to work out on duty.
00:11:42
Speaker
And regardless, most it's usually that thing where when you're short on time, that's the thing that just gets lopped off the workout. and then I'm just not – I'm not going to warm up today. I don't have time. and I'm not going to do it. I'll do it later. And then it just never happens. And it gets pushed and pushed and pushed. And so I think mobility is one of the, it doesn't require much. You don't need any equipment. You just need your body and 10, 15 minutes consistently to to make a really significant change.
00:12:04
Speaker
And so I introduce them. I don't just talk about I actually, regardless of what the environment is, I get them up and moving. Even if they're in rows with chairs and tables and there's not a lot of space, you can still do mobility. If you have lots of space and plenty of of ability to move around, even better. And so I've done some workshops where we can actually like do a full mobility session. But even if we just spend 10 minutes on it, we can feel what it feels like to move joints through range of motion and compare before and after. And that's really powerful, especially if people have never done that before. So mobility is a big one that we talk about And then just some of the other low hanging fruit, hydration, nutrition, just basic changes that they can make to to feel better in their bodies. yeah Sleep, of course, is probably arguably the biggest one. We can't we can't do hands on in the ah for sleep in the in the
The Significance of Warm-Ups
00:12:51
Speaker
sessions, but we can certainly talk about it. That's that's the future. Yeah. yeah
00:12:55
Speaker
Highly value the warmup where you warm up for athletic performance is the one consistent thing you have every single day, whether we're going to practice, whether they're doing training or they're doing games.
00:13:06
Speaker
So that's our, the one thing we can control yeah and then aiming to gradually over a season, have a, an Athletic development model. Yep. The beauty is guys can hit reset if they're in a professional environment They can just do the different things What I aim to tackle is there's no one magic warm-up because then we hit the law of accommodation and then no longer starts warming us up So aim to chase behaviors with it chase the habit of I'm committing 10 minutes yeahp We're gonna mix it up. So it is fun and creative. Yep
00:13:39
Speaker
And that way it doesn't get boring. So building that buy-in and it continues to build our our mobility. I call them, usually people have their own preconceived definition of warm up. So I call mess ups.
00:13:52
Speaker
Ability, elasticity still elasticity, and stability. So we're gonna mess up. So if I get a new person, I just throw every preconceived definition they got out and just help redefine it for them. That's all, I love that. That's great.
00:14:08
Speaker
So what I wanted to to highlight as well is we have unique representation here. We have service member and spouse support on the other side.
00:14:20
Speaker
And you get the opportunity to be very in-depth on your knowledge of human performance And then you get to apply all those tools for your personal well-being and career in your athletic career as well.
00:14:31
Speaker
So how does being on both sides help you both as educator and facilitator to understand that that depth, that dynamic and full well-rounded versus just a facilitator that's going into these environments that doesn't have a representation
Civilian vs. Military Coaching Perspectives
00:14:47
Speaker
in there? There's a lot of, hey, you should do this, but it you know you know the reality of the job.
00:14:53
Speaker
el start I think it's it's valuable to have both perspectives and both sides of the coin, I think. And I've talked to other presenters who are civilians who present to Tactical, and it can sometimes, you kind of get both extremes. You get people who are like,
00:15:09
Speaker
because you're a doctor, because you're a coach, whatever, going to listen to you. i don't want to hear but i don't want to hear from my colleague who's in uniform because I see that guy every day. And then there's the opposite where like, you you don't know what I've lived, so I'm not going to listen to you, but I am going to listen to the expert who has worn the uniform. And so I think together, when we have the opportunity to present together, we have both. And so, and sometimes you just need to hear, that it's the same message, but you depending on how you hear it, who you hear it from, how it's delivered, it it could be the same information, but it just, it's going to resonate with some people differently. And so having both of our perspectives on on stage or in the room together, I think is really impactful.
00:15:45
Speaker
And like you said, we both bring a unique life experience to the table. I'm an athlete, I'm a coach, I'm a military spouse, and i and now have specialize in the tactical population. And he's but he has worn the uniform, still wears the uniform and has that perspective. guys Hi.
00:16:04
Speaker
So we kind of, it's like a one-two punch and we both have our own unique experiences. I'll never pretend to know what it's like to to walk in their shoes because I haven't, but I'm married to someone who has, and I've seen it firsthand. I have that passenger seat view of what they put their bodies through and what it's like to be able to support and then also bring the knowledge that I have from my textbook knowledge, plus my hands-on experience of working with those people.
00:16:27
Speaker
Time out. Observation, new coaches getting into the field are really smart and intelligent when it comes to programming or understanding practice plans and their sport, and really bad at people.
00:16:40
Speaker
They have high IQ and low EQ. I spent the past 14 years traveling the world, teaching people how to teach people, lifting weights, understanding sport, but most importantly, connecting with people.
00:16:54
Speaker
I've taken all those lessons from all over the world and put them into a new course, Why They're Not Listening, Coaching Today's Athlete. If you want the first lesson free, head to the website, listen.captainsandcoaches.com to learn more.
00:17:08
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and break. I like to use the analogy of engineers trying to develop a solution to something or scientists developing a solution to something and they're trying to figure it out, trying to figure it out and they can't. And then they have, then they, someone walks in, the janitor walks in.
00:17:28
Speaker
like, what happens if you flip that upside down and all of a sudden that's the fix, right? So having, a an environment where everybody thinks the same is not necessarily the best environment to
Joel's Recovery Journey from an IED
00:17:44
Speaker
progress. right So sure, you have the experience, that the life experience of it. But if you have someone from the outside, a third party look inside and see what's going on, and maybe they have that solution. So when you have someone who hasn't worn the uniform, it's like, well...
00:18:01
Speaker
there's it's a simple fix. now usually If you do this this, this will definitely help you. And having someone like her teach me things that we didn't learn in the Marine Corps at the time was able, that that allowed me to
00:18:20
Speaker
live a much or be able to stay in service for much longer. Yeah. Because I was i was hit by id in two thousand and seven an is an improvised explosive device for those people who't who don't know.
00:18:31
Speaker
And the vehicle was completely destroyed. Luckily, I was in the vehicle when it hit, but my body was pretty beat up. And if I hadn't met her when I did in 2010, I would not be retiring we would i would not be retiring ah From the Marine Corps, i would be, after 20 years, I'd be medically retired probably five years ago, 10 years ago. absolutely And so the importance of understanding having someone explain to you in a different way.
00:19:00
Speaker
And aye teach you in in a way that is a little more outside the box thinking or maybe from a different mindset absolutely helps.
00:19:11
Speaker
So I would encourage anybody who is learning from someone who is not in their line of work, yeah have an open mind. You never know what you can learn from that person, even if they're you know they've never worn the uniform, if they've never played the sport or whatever the case may be. I mean, a lot of times,
00:19:28
Speaker
The coach tells you what you need to do. And even if the coach can't do what you can do. Yeah. You know, and then a lot, uh, even within sport coach, a lot of militaries, they, they tell you what to do, but not necessarily how to think. and when that moment happens, you almost had to learn to, to think for yourself and make your personal decisions because it's your, you know, your livelihood here.
00:19:53
Speaker
So was there a moment of growth that you recall in that where, okay, well, this this got real versus being asked to do x y Z all the time? from You mean from her or just in general? Well, I thought that it was going my follow-up.
00:20:07
Speaker
And i can ask I can ask both now because, i mean, that's the power of a good relationship. You were willing to listen. Was there a point where you had to learn to listen?
00:20:19
Speaker
were you always willing? Yeah, there was there was definitely a ah point that I had to learn to listen, mainly because i I'm stubborn. And most military members are going to be stubborn, especially the ones that last long enough in the military going stubborn. It's like, I can do this. like i I don't need sleep.
00:20:37
Speaker
I don't need that much water. i don't need um you know that much rest. I can do it. I can push through. um But there was a point in my in my life where my body was starting to break down.
00:20:49
Speaker
And I realized I really need to prioritize the things that are going to help me be live longer and perform better for a long period of time.
00:21:01
Speaker
And if I wanted to retire and enjoy my retirement and not be broken down during my retirement, then I have to pay attention to those things too. So when that started happening, I started implementing the small things that you talked about, you know adding a little extra sleep, um doing some stretch management, and just being a little more intentional about the things that I do, adding mobility. That was a big one. i Military members, first responders, we wear boots and we wear all this gear all the time. Our mobility sucks.
00:21:32
Speaker
But adding that mobility to increase the range of motion in my body, increase power production, to but also to to feel better and have a better mindset during the day, that was enormous.
00:21:44
Speaker
And if I could tell anybody to start where to start, start with mobility. And... Once you start adding, because that is a low barrier to entry. And once you add those things and you feel better, then you're like, well, what else can I do to make me feel better?
00:22:00
Speaker
And then on top of that, I track everything. So we track with the whoop and we track everything to see what works and what doesn't work. Nice. Well, then question for Rebecca, what were the first mobility exercises?
00:22:15
Speaker
How many did you try until finally it clicked for them? Was it the couch stretch? i don't I don't even remember. I mean, this is going back. i I do remember when we first met and we met at the gym, which no one's ever surprised about, but he I don't think you did any. I mean, it's the classic.
00:22:31
Speaker
I'm going to just. before I bench, I'm just going to do, you know, a barbell, you know, a couple of grabs and five pound plates, do some arm circles, do some whatever, and then bar and then 135 and go. And I think that's probably what you were doing. Oh, you started with a bar. Wow. or Maybe, maybe not even the bar. Maybe we just go 135, forget the bar. I don't know. But gosh, i don't even, I don't know that I knew that much about, I mean, I didn't become a trainer until after college. So I didn't really get into this. I was always an athlete since I was a kid, but I think once I learned The the thing that sticks out to me the most from my early personal training career was learning the joint by joint theory, like boils, like made mobile stable and all that. And just, it made so much sense to me.
00:23:11
Speaker
And I still utilize that with first responders because everyone thinks that the ankle is or The first partners I work with are like, oh, the ankles are supposed to be stable. I'm like, well, no, your ankles don't move because you sh shove them in boots all day.
00:23:24
Speaker
And so, yes, we need some stability, but the ankles are a pretty mobile joint. We can move it around three planes of motion. and so And then working the way up the body and that going through the mobile, stable, mobile, stable,
00:23:35
Speaker
helps people realize ah oftentimes why they have, why their body moves or doesn't move the way that it does or doesn't. And so if you, you know, you put a ah duty belt on around your hips and then you sit all day and then you wonder why your knees and back hurt.
00:23:50
Speaker
Well, maybe I mean, then you have boots on, on top of that. And then you have your vest on, on top of that. And then your T spines like this, and then your center console is over here. And we wonder why rotating this way is really hard and why I can't move my arms over my head. Like it just, it all fits together. It makes so much sense to me. yeah And so i that's a usually where I start when I work with tactical population is just understanding like how the joints are supposed to move, where to focus our efforts when time is limited – on on our mobility training, how can we get the most bang for our buck based on the things we repeatedly do? And so I think that's probably early on, like that was 2014 when I first became a personal trainer and started to learn all that. And i shared it all with him as I was learning it. Like, oh my God, guess what I learned today? And then he started implementing it because it applied to him. Yeah, that that enthusiasm, that that's what I love. So I think it's a very important transition for Coach's career to jump from coach to to educator.
00:24:44
Speaker
Because then it's just like, and and I get seniors in high school to teach freshmen because then they really start to learn and understand it. And they can see how difficult teaching is. That's an aside.
00:24:56
Speaker
But then you really have to understand this in-depth paint the picture. And then coaching versus teaching. Teaching, I understand everything from XYZ, and then I can apply it.
00:25:08
Speaker
Where in coaching is I can get you set up, get you to execute, and then I fix one thing. Teaching, I have to understand everything that could go wrong, like the joint by joint approach. Where in coaching, I can just see one thing and give you one tip.
00:25:22
Speaker
So this evolution where you need to build your own personal breadth of knowledge to then educate. So that was ah an important piece. We also talked a little bit about your career, where you went from trainer trainer Now everybody's on the same level with your peers to now manager leader within the ah that department.
00:25:42
Speaker
So now we're paired with military, which is all about leadership growth and then climbing the the chain, the corporate chain. i don't know how to phrase it in military. takes The ranks. That's it.
00:25:54
Speaker
So now speak to us about that jump from trainer to now manager and educator. And it's effectively a leader of people that you used to be chums with.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, that was challenging, especially because I was one of the youngest on the team. So I had trained, I went from being a pretty fairly new trainer. And then I guess my managers identified in me potential and a desire to, to continue to grow and develop as, as a leader. And so I moved into the manager and training program and that was kind of like that transition period. Like I'm not a manager yet. I'm still wanting, still one of the but staff and then, and then eventually it became a manager. And so i think that.
00:26:35
Speaker
I've always held a high standard for myself in all the things that I do and followed all the rules and done everything according to the book, which I think has pros and cons because there's, there are places and times when it's appropriate to not, maybe not necessarily follow the rule book because you have a person in front of you. but We're not just these, we don't,
00:26:55
Speaker
have this perfect structure all the time and and each circumstance is unique and we have to listen. Yeah. And so being willing to think outside the box, being willing to hear people, meet them where they are. And and it it was just such a big learning curve for me. But I also, after shortly after I became a manager, had the opportunity to go, i moved to a different location and opened up a brand new club. So I had a huge experience, a huge opportunity to go through the entire process of identifying talent, doing and the interviews, hiring a team, building a team, creating a,
00:27:24
Speaker
team culture from scratch at this brand new club in a brand new market. We were the first club in San Diego and got getting to build that from the ground up and and then open the club together, like truly was one of the most incredible learning experiences I've ever had. I believe it. yeah So within stepping into that, were you training physical knowledge of ah of the body for now leadership knowledge from Joel?
00:27:49
Speaker
Absolutely. There was a lot of firsts for me because I was, i mean, I'm five and a half years younger than he is so and And having not served in the military, not deploy, like he has, he had at the time and and has a lot more life experience and just like unique things that I never had. And so I leaned on him a lot for.
00:28:05
Speaker
the the leadership moments when I was like, I'm in this situation. What do I do? Can you help? Can we walk through this, talk through this together? And he definitely helped me a lot as I came into that new role as manager, leader, all of that. So yeah, it was definitely a give and take relationship there. Yeah.
00:28:22
Speaker
Well, how was that teaching moment for you, Joel? It was, it was refreshing to know that she had an open mind to, to listen and, to ask the question because that is the toughest one is when you don't know and you have to ask.
00:28:36
Speaker
Some one of us have so much pride that we don't even ask because we're like, I'll figure it out. And then you make a mistake and you go, damn, I should have asked. And so asking the question, I don't have all the answers, but getting perspectives on what different things you can do, that is a true humble leader, knowing what you don't know. And when you don't know something, trying to find out what the right answer is. And also, um I think one of the biggest the biggest parts of one of the biggest conversations that we had was how do you go from being a peer,
00:29:15
Speaker
to be in their leader and what you have to do in the military is is very black and white when you pick up rank and now I'm your senior um and then ah you know as you as you pick up rank as you continue in your progression your career in the military you you have your subordinates you have your leaders and you have your peers right and at the same rank and not only understanding how to lead people who are once your peers.
00:29:48
Speaker
But also, i think that even the toughest part is learning how to lead your peers. Yeah. Right? Because sometimes your peers are the are the problem. And ah and you have to be very tactful in doing that.
00:30:03
Speaker
Leading up is... to To your leaders, it's tricky depending on the industry. In the military, it's very tricky. In the civilian sector or in the thing when you're outside of the the military structure, i think it's a little into it it's a little more accepted.
00:30:21
Speaker
In the military, it's just you have to if you have a humble leader that is willing to listen, then it's easier than it is if you have someone who you know is stubborn. yeah Yeah, it's the same with sports.
00:30:33
Speaker
There is a book I read years ago when I was ah a team captain athlete. It was 360 degree leadership by John C. Maxwell. And there was not a lot of athlete specific leadership tools.
00:30:44
Speaker
So I was just reading business books to try to learn these lessons and then bring them to 18 to 22 year olds who are also stubborn and they don't know what they don't know.
00:30:56
Speaker
So that was an interesting challenge, but that just visual of 360 degrees. I got to lead up. I got a lead side to side with my peers. And then I got lead down to my teammates, but still subordinates. i don't know what you call them in the military.
00:31:11
Speaker
But um so that, I mean, that was that was so much growth. And then it's it's an opportunity to fail because it doesn't matter. And they're also forgiving because they're friends and it's it's all growth.
00:31:22
Speaker
The challenge is when now careers are on the line with that. That's why I value the opportunity to lead at the sports level so much because we can make mistakes, but we're still pals.
00:31:32
Speaker
Now, my upward growth is not affected by that. They're going to be forgiving. We're still going to be in each other's weddings. um Time out. I get two and a half. This one's all about training. I'm talking about my old bull strength conditioning program that I have available on Train Heroic. This is Training with Wisdom. It's the program that I am following. I understand who you are. You don't have a lot of time.
00:31:58
Speaker
You're a busy leader and you're beat up from years of athletics, years of training. Here in this program, we target hips, ankles, knee, back health with the barbell. We have fun variations of the squat and the programs, sexy Fridays, bodybuilding. It is an amazing time.
00:32:16
Speaker
It will keep you engaged. It will keep you involved and keep you on a wise program that keeps you coming back for more instead of digging you a hole you can't come out of that affects life outside of training.
00:32:29
Speaker
Come check us out for a seven-day free trial in the Old Bull program, a link in the show notes, or you're watching on YouTube, just click right here. All right and now back to the show.
Long-Term Health and Wellness for Leaders
00:32:40
Speaker
Ready, ready, and break. So we talked about the challenges of that fear, that weight of upward growth, and I wanted to speak to it because that could keep some people silent sometimes.
00:32:53
Speaker
So now, with your joel with your experience, and I mean, you had to recover from an injury. And you did you think about 20 years after service career back then?
00:33:06
Speaker
Or did it take the injury for you to realize the importance of, I've got to take care of my body now, so it one, I can continue to serve, and two, I'm there for my family?
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, good question. ah Short answer it is I didn't think ahead far enough when I was younger. And I don't think most of us do. and um when When we're younger, when we're in our twenty s even like in our teens and 20s, right, we we get hurt, something happens, we bounce back pretty quickly. And we don't have to worry too much about, you know, whether or not we're going to be able to do that thing that we love doing. Again, because we know we can recover.
00:33:43
Speaker
Once you start... When those pains, aches and injuries start to like, you know, rear their ugly head again when you're in your mid 30s and then when you get to your 40s, then you start to really start thinking it's like, man, I should have done these things and I should have taken care of myself because now you start thinking about the long game.
00:34:04
Speaker
And I think that's something that leaders, including parents, because parents are leaders. i don't want you know i don't want to keep parents out of these conversations. Parents are the first-line defense leaders in the beginning.
00:34:18
Speaker
Society has ah has a role, but parents are the leaders. And if you start... teaching your kids the long the long game. Whether it's with investing, and I like to use the word investing, not just in investing money to gain wealth, but investing in your health and longevity and education to understand how to use your tools.
00:34:39
Speaker
um for in everything you do, that's going to create that's going to help you be a person who's a long-range thinker, who's thinking about what happens when I'm 50. So it doesn't have to take an injury, but most often it takes a catastrophe or something that happens in life two for us to start thinking about the future.
00:35:02
Speaker
And if we can shift our mindset and be more proactive about Hey, someday you're going to be 40, 50. What are you doing now for that time? And, you know, we parents say it every now and then in passing and make sure you save money, make sure you invest. But like we don't teach them how we don't teach them what to do.
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah. And I learned that a lot of the stuff from from her. And when it comes to when it came to health and then when it came to money, when it came to, you know, other things in life, um I taught her some some things like that as well. So it's a give and take.
00:35:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i like that. ah A line I've been using for a
00:35:45
Speaker
You want to straighten that out, Rebecca? Yeah. There you go. There you go. Leadership is messy. Quote Brett Bartholomew there. So is podcasting. The line I use a lot is coaches are the last line of defense.
00:35:59
Speaker
who Like I mentioned, it's an opportunity for me to fail as a leader with some ah in an environment where my my my guys are forgiving. Coaches, in that same sense, like we can make mistakes and it's not going to cost us our job.
00:36:12
Speaker
It's not going to cost us a grade in in college. It's going affect my ability to get into law school. So now coaches, we can be forgiving and teach the lesson.
00:36:24
Speaker
And I feel parents should be that all the time. So I'm gonna steal that line. Parents are the first line of the defense. First line of the defense. Coaches are that last line, in my humble opinion. Yeah.
00:36:35
Speaker
what Within that, how what guidance would you give to younger servicemen that ah still have that bravado, still have that guard and shield up, not willing to ask anybody for help? They'll figure it out. Or there's also the fear it may affect their ability to rise in the ranks. Yeah.
00:36:53
Speaker
We all have it. We all have the the fear that if we are injured, there's always the next opportunity, right? For everything we do, there's another opportunity, especially in the first responder military community. It's always the next rank, always the next duty station, and always the next deployment, which everybody wants.
00:37:10
Speaker
And if you're not healthy, if you're not if you're injured, then you're less likely to to get to that that point, right? Yeah. there is a time and i used it the words the the words suck it up you use a different word what what was it that you used instead of forget forget what it is it's all instinctual build it up build yourself up yeah yeah rise up yeah suck it up um but there's a time there's a time yeah you said that it sounded really good when you said it um there's a time to to put yourself second and put the mission first but
00:37:45
Speaker
As an individual, you have to kind of understand when it's time for self-care for the to, again, play that long game. And then I'll go and put the responsibility again on the leader to realize when it's a good time to tell your team, take care of yourself because I'm going to need you during this other time.
00:38:04
Speaker
We don't know when. We don't know what's going to happen. so I'm going to need you to be ready when the time comes. And if we are continuously... putting our health in the back seat and we're not recovering at night, we're not sleeping enough.
00:38:19
Speaker
And then every day that we are not recovered, we are starting the day less recovered than ah than the previous day. Eventually, that lack of recovery is going become an injury and sometimes becomes an injury that is...
00:38:36
Speaker
maybe not even fixable, um you know um unless you take care of yourself in the in the beginning and you're able to recover properly, every not every single day because you that's not possible, but when you can.
00:38:48
Speaker
yeah So it's ah it's not necessarily a balance, it's more like a synergy. yeah And so understanding when to do what. Yeah, and I mean, that's that's motivation, that's inspiration, that's daily.
00:39:01
Speaker
I can get you and build you up for this moment and this time, I need you now. but at the same time, we're thinking about being that long range thinker. In my mind, sports, this is hey practice. We're taking our sweet time. We're learning our behaviors. We're learning skill development.
00:39:17
Speaker
Whether it come game time, it's intensity, we're gonna need you now, this moment, this is your time, to quote Herb Brooks in The Miracle. so And it's a buying for the leader as well. like Because that way you know that your team is, or the people who you are leading, you're taking care of them.
00:39:34
Speaker
Because the mission is gonna come. And you're gonna your and you're going to need your team and how likely are you to succeed if your team is at you know half capacity versus full capacity? Yes.
00:39:48
Speaker
Speaking of teams, this question for Rebecca, it's what we call a transition in the business.
Merger with Nick Lavery's Brand
00:39:53
Speaker
You recently rebranded to Machine Strength and had a merger creating a new team. Who's it with? Introduce him and then what is your mission now?
00:40:03
Speaker
How has it evolved from previously? When COVID hit in 2020, I was out of work, needed to figure out how was going to continue to advance my career, my professional development.
00:40:14
Speaker
make, make income. And so that's when I started, we started our business, which was called Semper Stronger. It was the two of us and we did everything. Every day, everything, all tasks, all the hats. I get it it. You know, many of us do. And it was an incredible learning experience and him still being active duty.
00:40:33
Speaker
He contributed as much as he could when he could. And it was my full time thing. So we we each had our roles. Thankfully we have very complimentary skill sets and we were able to get everything done, but there's like, there's really a ceiling that and the capacity that you can do when it's just two people and solopreneurship versus entrepreneurship. And so I think for where we were in our life and and him still being in the military, we we took the business to where we could take it being just the two of us. And at some point we needed to start building a team in order to grow. And so we did that still while we were super stronger. We had, i had somebody come on board with us. Somebody actually had worked with that Equinox before and she helped us build a team. Hello. Time out. Text here at train heroic headquarters, meeting with the team to talk about the coaching experience that I'm able to provide for my athletes. So if you're a coach and want to put your program out there, on an app that athletes actually enjoy using, Train Heroic's for you. I've been using it since 2014, delivering literally over tens of thousands of workouts to athletes, and Train Heroic allows me to provide the unique coaching experience that I want to. Uploading video, providing coaching feedback, directions, and building a community, that's why I love Train Heroic. And if you want to take your athletes where they can't take themselves, that they want to go, head to trainheroic.com slash captains. and check out how you can deliver programming to them.
00:41:56
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and we're in.
00:42:02
Speaker
So we started to build a team. We hired a couple of other coaches and coaches from different, have different specialties than what I have so that we could start to help more people. And that took us up until 2023 ish. And that's when I started getting into public speaking.
00:42:18
Speaker
And my colleague sleep speaking mentor is Nick Lavery. He is an active duty green beret. He's the first Special operator to return to combat as an above the knee amputee. He's got an incredible story and he was about a year and two ahead of me in the public speaking world. And he was kind of the person that got me even to put that on my radar of making an impact in front speaking in front of audiences. And at the same, at that time I was kind of like, we started to grow my social media following, but I didn't really just want to live on the internet and make impacts online.
00:42:48
Speaker
It was great for post COVID because everybody went or during COVID because everybody moved online and and it gave us the opportunity to not be confined by the four walls of a gym when gyms were closed. And i love that. That's kind of how ah I started, but it was not where I wanted, where I saw myself going in the future. And I started to realize that there's a lot of impact that could be had in person. And the power of proximity is very real.
00:43:10
Speaker
And so I started to work on my public speaking abilities, at which I had none. Started to go to public speaking courses, joined Toastmasters. And then Nick was kind of mentoring me along the way.
00:43:21
Speaker
He had his own business, still has his own business. And he shared with me his long was big visionary guy, long term thinker. I'm much more of the day to day tactical stuff. He's very much the strategic kind of thinker. And he shared with me what his vision was for the five to 10 year roadmap of where he saw himself taking his business and fitness is a big part of his life. Obviously had to do a tremendous amount of work on the physical side to be able to return to a team and get back on deployment status as a special operator, green beret.
00:43:52
Speaker
And so he based on what he shared with me, it became clear that eventually we would likely become competitors. And we had already done a lot of work together. he was mentoring me in public speaking. He had given me a lot of quite a few opportunities to be able to get in front of audiences. It it really helped me advance in the tactical world because he has so many, that's the world he lives in. That's the world you know he lives in. and And I want to, wanted to start getting into more. And so we just had a few conversations and we decided to just join forces instead of,
00:44:21
Speaker
us continuing to build and do all the things that we needed to do, or we knew we would have to do eventually to grow to the next level. He already kind of had those things in place in his mind or in real life. And so we decided to just join forces and grow together.
00:44:36
Speaker
And so we rebranded Semper Stronger to Machine Strength. His company or his brand was Team Machine. And so we're Machine Strength and now we're in the process of building out more Division. So we're machine readiness, which is kind of the the whole person approach to physical, mental wellness and performance.
00:44:51
Speaker
And so machine strength is one of several divisions within that umbrella. So we're building out the functional medicine, which is machine vitality and machine mentality for mindset. And then we're gonna have a couple other divisions coming online in the next couple of years as well. I love it.
00:45:06
Speaker
Nutrition and sleep and recovery and all the all the things that make people perform at their highest level, whatever that means and whatever industry, whatever field. Yeah. And it's all connected so that it opens the door for not just military. Yes.
00:45:20
Speaker
People that they aim and want to to live that lifestyle and they need that that those behaviors to chase. Yep. ah Because the concepts are similar and the concepts are the the same. The way that we apply them is going to differ based on the population we're talking to. But everybody needs to prioritize movement, nutrition, stress management, sleep.
00:45:41
Speaker
that's the That's across the board. It's just how we the nuances of how we implement those things and how we coach them is going to differ based on who we're talking to. hu And you've coached a lot of military people where they they become perfectionists because of their work environment.
00:45:58
Speaker
So they have to do this perfect or else. What's your mindset now that you can lose couple hours of sleep because of another opportunity or, you know, I'm gonna go to a wedding, I'm gonna eat wedding cake, so I'm not weird. yeah like It's okay. yeah How do you communicate it's okay to a lot of perfectionists that that could fall into the all or nothing trap where like,
00:46:25
Speaker
I had that one piece of cake. I'm going eat like crap the rest of the the week. Yep. I think to your point, theres there's kind of, it's the all or nothing. There's really two extremes. I find with the tactical population, it's people who just, they don't care about any of it. They're like, I'm here to collect a paycheck. And unfortunately, that's, there are people that that are that way. They're not thinking about their health as an investment in themselves, their family members, their team, the people that depend on them, their communities, the people that they serve.
00:46:51
Speaker
But then for those who are on the other end of the spectrum where they are the perfectionist types and i very much relate to those people because I am, that is my nature. I've had to work through a lot of that myself. And so I can speak to a lot of my own personal experiences. And I think people who know me or see me on social media or whatever, they assume that I am like perfect all the time with, oh, you must only eat like tilapia and chicken breast and broccoli and that's it. And like, no, I eat chocolate. I eat, I'm going to eat the wedding cake. And I've learned that over time. It doesn't have to be a hundred, no one, nothing's,
00:47:19
Speaker
ah hundred percent No one's going to get it right all of the time, but it's about making better choices more of the time for, and for our both both our physical health and our mental health. That's usually the long-term success plan is not, not getting it right. A hundred percent of the time, not even striving for a hundred percent. Cause when we don't get it, what then what?
00:47:37
Speaker
But can we get 85%, 90%? Can we just focus on making better choices more of the time and look at it as a big picture? It's today, if today doesn't go great or that you know this this meal isn't perfect or what we want it to be, let's just put that in the past and move forward. we don't have to throw away the whole day, but just...
00:47:56
Speaker
move forward. and if you miss a workout, it's not the end of the world, but don't throw away the entire week or the month. Like we've got to December and we're in December. Now a lot of people are like, Oh, well it's December 8th. So I'll start in January. Like how many people are that way?
00:48:09
Speaker
Um, but that's a long time. December is, we still have 23 more days of December. You're not wrong. And so looking at it as know the micro goals, the, the,
00:48:21
Speaker
breaking it into smaller chunks and doing the best that we can with what we've got. Yeah. And then for some applicable tools, we mentioned sleep routine where we're drinking a lot of caffeine this morning.
00:48:36
Speaker
What's a sleep routine? when What would you recommend to starting point when you're just meeting people, you get two hours with them, you don't know their whole caffeine sensitivity, yeah what would be a good guideline to help them start a sleep routine to see if they need adjust to certain things?
00:48:53
Speaker
Caffeine, for caffeine specifically, I always educate on the half-life of caffeine and recognizing that there are individual levels of sensitivity to caffeine, but the for most people, keeping the cutoff of caffeine eight to 10 hours before bed which most people don't want to hear but the reality is if you start sleeping better through all the other things we can do to make that happen you may not rely on that four o'clock energy drink anymore because you don't need the nap you don't need the energy drink because you're sleeping better at night and when you sleep better at night and you do that consistently you have better energy throughout the day and we don't rely on that afternoon pick me up to get through the day and then wreck our sleep and then fall into that vicious cycle so caffeine is a big one
00:49:35
Speaker
I think stress management, which oftentimes with the population we work with is much easier said than done because they see stressful things all day long when they're on shift, but having tools and resources at the ready to mitigate the impact of that stress. So we're not living in redlining our cortisol 24, seven, 365, being able to use our breath to bring us back to homeostasis as quickly as possible after something that is stressful occurs.
00:50:02
Speaker
And because the stress that we carry with us through the day is gonna go to bed with us at night. And I think a lot of people don't realize that. And so if you're stressed out all day long, your cortisol rhythm is completely off because of the things that you see and do, and you don't know how to get back to homeostasis, you can't expect to shut the light off and all of a sudden it all goes away. Yeah. We ruminate on these things. They affect our physiology. They affect our sleep. They affect our cortisol.
00:50:24
Speaker
And so having those, having the ability to manage our stress effectively, having an implementing a wind down routine. So we have that time between the work day and the bedtime to decompress a little bit and not continue to simulate ourselves through social media, scrolling through TV shows or whatever it may be, but doing something that's a little bit more down, regulating to our nervous system and helps us facilitate that transition to sleep a little bit better.
00:50:50
Speaker
Having the right sleep conditions while we're sleeping, keeping the room dark, keeping the room cool. not having interruptions when possible from phones, from kids, from pets, from whatever, you know just keeping a really keeping that environment in the bedroom appropriate for sleep and only doing sleep and sex. I always say sleep and sex should be the only things that we're doing in bed because our brain creates associations.
00:51:14
Speaker
Whether you realize it or not, if we're scrolling social media, if we're reading the news, if we're talking about finances or anything else while we're in bed, our brain now associates that environment with stress.
00:51:26
Speaker
And even in the absence of the stimulus, there's a subconscious association. So when you get in bed, if you argue with your spouse, if whatever, you're doing anything else other than sleep and sex in your bed, your brain will start to associate those stressful things with that environment and making it, will make it harder to sleep even know when the stressor is not there.
00:51:45
Speaker
Yeah, an old Rob Wolf joke I heard at a presentation. he's There's two things you should be doing in the bedroom, and the other one's sleep. Yes, there you go. um For Joel, in...
00:51:58
Speaker
Rebecca, you mentioned homeostasis. And here's the challenge that want to pose to military vet here. How do you find what homeostasis is? Because we're we're always on.
00:52:10
Speaker
We always got someone jumping, just jumping all over us. We're always caffeinated. We're always doing this. We're always this. There's always this stress, so on and so forth. How do we know what level is from this perspective? Because we don't want level to be at full throttle all the time.
00:52:28
Speaker
There's going to be a time when you're going to be up here all the time, when you deploy and you're constantly getting you know ah into things, whether it's getting with the enemy, you're engaging the enemy, whether you're you're surrounded by stressful situations, whether it's noise, um chaos, whatever it is, there's going to be a time when you have to perform for that long for that ah long period of time at a stressful level.
00:52:58
Speaker
Understanding how to, like Rebecca said, how to bring your your nervous system back down so that you can perform even when you're stressed and then when you get back out of, when you get out of that stressful situation and you can get your heart rate back down at a normal level, your, your, um,
00:53:16
Speaker
your nervous system back down to to a normal level, to ah to a homeostasis, is extremely important. So understanding how to how to breathe properly, understanding that um there were there is a time to Like I said before, self-care, to be able to ah to call to call home and say, i just want to talk when you can.
00:53:40
Speaker
right Or when it's a time to sleep, sleep. When the social aspect, surrounding yourself with people who are not going to make life stressful for you when it's already chaos.
00:53:53
Speaker
And we all know who those people are. Sometimes those people are family. Sometimes those people are family members that are just negative all the time, that create chaos and and making sure that your environment is setting you up for success.
00:54:09
Speaker
And we're not just, like i like I just said right now, we're not just talking about things, we're talking about people. And sometimes it is addressing that situation with those people, saying, it's like hey, you are not helping people.
00:54:20
Speaker
the situation. And doing it enough times where that person then can be an asset to your life, not a liability. And so apart from all the things that Rebecca said, I would say that your social circle, the people who are around you, are either going to make you better or they're going to make you sink.
00:54:41
Speaker
ah And It really is a decision on the individual because you don't have to surround yourself yourself with those people. Or even if you do, you don't have to engage at the, uh, any capacity other than what what's necessary.
00:54:56
Speaker
So now that that that's the challenge, changing your, your social circle and creating boundaries there. spent a lot of time speaking on boundaries on the podcast is important for both a sport coach and a team leader.
00:55:11
Speaker
protect themselves from nasty coaches so then the two boundaries that guidelines i give that are essential and then you can get specific for your team are moral boundaries and then essentially physical mental and emotional so if any one of those bottom three are compromised that's not a safe environment for you as a one a leader or two if the parents are attacking you or unruly fans or if you're a student athlete like if your coach is doing that stuff transfer portal goodbye so now as a professional i can create my own social circle i have more control than an athlete what would your guidance to be to put yourself in in in an environment to create for yourself that where it's better and prevent the sink
00:55:59
Speaker
Yeah, you have to set the example for yourself and also be vocal and visually um obvious about what's important to you. if you know If it is important to you, and it should be if you're an athlete, if you're a military member or a first responder, performance should be important to you.
00:56:19
Speaker
um Longevity should be important to you. Leadership should be important to you. All those things, and if they're not, then maybe you'll you're in the wrong profession. Maybe you're doing the wrong thing, right? and you And so being extremely obvious about it, and eventually the people around you are either going, you're going to help them rise and be at your standard, or they'll eventually fizzle out and find a different group.
00:56:49
Speaker
right But I'm not saying that everyone is going to be in in your group or and everyone's going to be at your level. You may be the example that you're setting, but set your own example first and then reach up instead of reaching down. So if you see someone, a coach, an individual, a team member, another person that is doing something the way that you want to do, performing in a certain way, then reach up and do the things that they're doing right.
00:57:17
Speaker
And... aim to be in their circle man ah i love that so i on friday i did a podcast with uh holy cross head coach for uh lacrosse team he's an ex-marine played lacrosse in navy and a big takeaway from that episode was he's like i don't want my guys to be the example i want my guys to set the example Because if you're leading by example, it means nobody's following you.
00:57:44
Speaker
Because you're just doing everything that you think should be done, and then you're doing it alone. So that was a big takeaway from him, and then we were making fun of the Army fitness test at home.
00:57:55
Speaker
All they got to do to fix it. just Just keep the standard. Have a standard. If it's hard, so what? If people are failing it, so what? Leave the standard. people will eventually meet the standard because if there's no other option than to get stronger, you're going to get stronger.
00:58:13
Speaker
Yeah, so put pull-ups in. Yes. That's all we're saying. Army, put pull-ups in your fitness test. Yes. Alex Morrow, did a podcast with him at the and NSCA Tactical Conference, and he's, think, represents, what's he call it, Knee Tuck Nation.
00:58:29
Speaker
He wants the knee tuck in. he's He went to West Point and still active duty. He wants it in there because it is hard. yeah So he he jokes and calls it Knee Tuck Nation. Great name.
00:58:42
Speaker
um Cool. Well, um I want to wind it down. Where can both of you or where where can people go to learn from from both of you and reach up in case they need some guidance, some mentorship or really need you at a moment in time that that is sometimes apparent with this population?
00:59:02
Speaker
We are both on social media, most active on Instagram. We have our personal pages plus our business page. I'm at Rebecca dot Rouse. And I'm at Joeler Blades. Yeah, I know. It's my brother-in-law.
00:59:18
Speaker
he ah He used to call me Joeler Skates. And this is before I was even on Instagram. And so i when I first got on Instagram, was, you know what? I'll ah i'll try drollerskates, see if it's there.
00:59:30
Speaker
It was taken. What? Yep. So I went with, I tried drollocoaster. That one was taken. Yeah. And then I guess we were doing drolloblades. And to be completely honest, I don't do anything with wheels on my feet.
00:59:42
Speaker
So I don't, I don't roller skate. I don't rollerblade. don't do any of those things. I was just, or skateboard. this is simply just a a name that I, that I picked because it was fun to say. And now people think that my last name is Blades when it's not, but I'll take it. It's be a cool last name.
01:00:02
Speaker
It is a cool last name. It would be. yeah Well, guys, thank you. Yeah. Our website is we, so you can, blades so com yeah I wish that'd be nice. I'm going to look that up. See if it's taken. We are MCHN.co.
01:00:18
Speaker
slash pages, slash strength. That's where you'll find machine strength. But if you go to MCHN, which is just short for machine, mchn.co, you will find what we do there.
01:00:30
Speaker
Cool. All right, guys, safe drive back today. Thank you again for making time. Can i say one last thing for you? Yeah, whatever you mean. I'm very passionate about leadership, and i'm also very passionate about leaders meeting their own standard.
01:00:44
Speaker
And so in the military, that's in the first responder world, as we pick up rank and as we develop in our career, we tend to let go of certain things and that is physical performance.
01:00:58
Speaker
But we gotta to continuously be an asset to our team and not a liability. And in order to do that with the things that we do, you have to maintain your physical fitness.
01:01:11
Speaker
So leaders everywhere, especially if you're in a physical job or something that requires physical performance, set the standard for yourself as well. If not, have a higher standard for yourself because then you'll have a lot more buy-in from your team and it's a win-win situation because then you can retire healthy.
01:01:34
Speaker
So don't neglect your own performance.
01:01:40
Speaker
All right, team, thank you very much. Appreciate your time. and everything you're doing for the industry and and all the servicemen. So thanks for tuning in.