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EP169: Robert Owens - Staying Fit Into Your 70s!
74 Plays8 days ago
“When someone sees something in you that you don’t see in yourself, it really opens your eyes to what you could be.”
Have you ever wondered what it takes to transform a life of struggle into one filled with resilience and purpose? Or how one man went from "average" to achieving the seemingly impossible? What does it take to challenge yourself, push beyond your limits, and truly live rather than just exist?
Are you a man in your 40’s, 50’s, or beyond who want to break free from mediocrity? Whether you’re battling with negative self-talk, facing challenges in your health, or wondering what’s next in your life, it’s never too late to push your limits and find new purpose.
Robert Owens is the oldest man to complete the elite Kokoro NAVY SEAL-style training, who ‘s lived a life of unrelenting resilience, mental toughness, and purpose-driven action. An incredible journey of overcoming personal trauma to becoming a leader in special operations training, a world-class endurance athlete, and an advocate for mental health in the veteran community.
Beyond Average: Developing Yourself Through The 20X Principle
You’re invited to come to a Sovereign Circle meeting to experience it for yourself. To learn more, go to https://www.sovereignman.ca/. While you’re there, check out the Battle Ready program and check out the store for Sovereign Man t-shirts, hats, and books.
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Transcript
Challenges of Aging and Fitness
00:00:01
Speaker
When I turned 63, I wanted to know if I could get in as good a shape in my sixties, mid sixties, as I was in my twenties on this aging thing.
Purpose vs. Sacrifice in Pursuit of Goals
00:00:12
Speaker
When you have a Y that's strong enough, you're not sacrificing anything. You do it because of the vision of where you're going. Wins, birth wins. And once you start winning at life and you get wins under your belt, you get momentum.
Traits of Modern Manhood
00:00:28
Speaker
You're a man living in the modern world in a time when men and manhood are not what they once were. You live life on your own terms. You're self-sufficient. You think for yourself and you march to the beat of your own drum. When life knocks you down, you get back up because in your gut, you know that's what men do. You're a badass and a warrior. And on the days when you forget, we are here to remind you who you really are.
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to the Sovereign Man podcast where we aim to make men mask. And again, I'm your man, Nicky Baloo.
Introduction of Robert Owens
00:01:05
Speaker
We have a very special guest here today. Robert Owens is ah the oldest man to complete the elite Kokoro Navy SEAL style training. He's been a mental resiliency coach for special operators. He's been a top level consultant as well. And he's a man with a lot of wisdom to give to his fellow man. Welcome Robert.
00:01:31
Speaker
Hey, good to see you. Good to see you.
Owens' Early Life and Adoption Story
00:01:34
Speaker
So Robert, why don't you give us your backstory just so that the listener understands who you are and why they should listen to you? You know, I'm not so sure why they should listen to me, but we all have a story. um I was adopted out of an orphanage and I was adopted as a disabled kid. Didn't learn how to run till I was in sixth grade, unaided. Had a lot of issues with poor self-worth growing up.
00:02:01
Speaker
um And just struggled through junior high and high school, water polo swimming, ah just different kinds of sports teams and things, but just not a lot of mental strength. um So I worked hard at working hard.
Military Journey and Influential Figures
00:02:17
Speaker
And um about 20 years old, some para rescue guys, which is Air Force, ah it's Navy SEALs with about nine months of medical on it. So in the Army Navy Marines as offense,
00:02:29
Speaker
And the Air Force's defense, we do the same training, but they add paramedic training us. So we go to rescue the guys that get shot. Anyway, some, some PJs that I knew that's for nickname PJs. ah They came up to me and said, Hey Robert, you know, you're going nowhere in life. Why don't you get your act together and come in the military during Vietnam? And I said, no, I've already dodged the draft. Thank you very much. I got out of that thing.
00:02:55
Speaker
And ah they think I'm disabled. And so I don't want to do that. I said, you know what? You're really missing out. You need to come in. And we're having more fun than you could imagine. And the thing that but got me was that these guys were really a different level of guy. they were They were mentally stronger. They were classier. They stood up straighter. They looked you in the eye. They were just different from my age group. And they were what we call reservists. In the US, we have reserve forces two weeks a year and then one weekend a month And I life guarded the beach with them. And so they would be gone sometimes, then they'd be home. Anyway, I said, you need to do that. And I said to them, I don't have special ops in me. You understand? That's not me. And they said to me, you don't understand, but you do.
00:03:42
Speaker
And I said, really? And they said, oh, no, we see something in you that you don't see in yourself, which is a great story that people can
Leadership and Mindset Transformation
00:03:50
Speaker
really... That's powerful. That's very powerful when someone sees something in you you don't see in yourself. It really, it really opens your eyes to what you could be, doesn't it? It it challenges you that you don't see correctly. You don't think correctly.
00:04:04
Speaker
I knew I had snakes in my head from I was sexually abused twice in seventh and eighth grade. My mom was dying of lupus. ah There was just a lot of issues in my youth from being adopted. Anyway, they just said, um you got special ops in you. And the the part that your Lister would like is that I chose to believe them. And I chose to say, I don't have faith in me per se, but I have faith in your faith in me.
00:04:33
Speaker
And if you see that in me, um okay, what do you want me to do? And they said, if you'll just go dark for six months and just do what we tell you to do and you do it, um you're going to drop out of society. You're going to work out no weed, no drinking, no chicks, no parties. We're going to run you and work you. We're going to get you ready. And I said, I'll do it because when you have a why that's strong enough, you're not sacrificing anything.
00:05:03
Speaker
you do it because of the vision of where you're going. So people said, was it hard? No, it wasn't hard. It was great because i had a I had a vision and it was worth giving up everything before. And so I went in and out of my class of 150, we graduated 10 plus six rollbacks and they made me team leader of those guys. know and when And when my sergeant said to me,
00:05:29
Speaker
You know, you are a reluctant leader. I said, I've never led. I don't see myself as a leader. I see myself as a ah follower. And he said to me, you're screwed up in the head. You're a leader. All these guys look at you and follow you.
00:05:44
Speaker
And I said, that's a first. you know i've I'm not a great athlete in the sense that I've never won anything. I wasn't first place. I was average. And the reason that my book is called Beyond Average is because I had the life before 20, being average and mediocre, and a victim excuses all those issues.
Positive Mindset and Academic Success
00:06:04
Speaker
And then after 20, I chose to not be average and mediocre And I changed my diaper, you know, got rid of all that that stuff and begin to believe what people were saying to me that I was smart. I was gifted. I was capable. And when that switch that sergeant said, well, I'm going to help you some more because you're a team leader and you're taking off for jump school. And um for the next nine months, this is your team. And he he came and put his nose on my nose.
00:06:38
Speaker
with a big wad of dip in his mouth and a cup, you know? And he said, what the fuck, Owens, you know? And I said, yes, sir, what the fuck, Captain, you know? And he said, if these guys screw up under your covering, under your leadership during the next nine months, I'm going to come have your ass. Do you understand that, young man? And I said, yes, sir. And I grew up in an instant.
00:07:04
Speaker
I mean, if ever you grow up quick, it's when somebody lays that kind of pressure, responsibility on you, ah sir you have to step up. And so when I stepped up, you know, it was funny when my mom and dad came to graduation, they just looked at me, my dad was an army guy, he just looked at me and said,
00:07:26
Speaker
What happened to you? And I said, I don't know. And he said, you've changed. I said, you know what, I've changed. He said, you've grown up. I said, I think I've grown up.
00:07:39
Speaker
And so all of a sudden, my life began to change and I started believing the positive instead of the negative. And I started working on mindset and perspectives, getting the snakes out of my head, getting the negativity out of my mind, stop hanging out with negative people and change my friends, change everything. And that was the beginning of a 50-year run.
00:08:01
Speaker
of doing stuff that people said, you can't do that. You know, I said, I know like I'm an original Ironman. So I showed up on Honolulu, you know, it's in Kona now. I showed up in Honolulu on a borrowed bicycle I'd never ridden once before. I never rode out on the street once before the race and crossed swim trunks and yeah baseball cap, t-shirt, beer, you know, everybody's going, hey, man, it's all good.
00:08:26
Speaker
They had to bring your egg game in those days and and knocked out Iron Man number three. And ah people said, you can't do that. I said, I know, watch. And pretty soon wins, birth wins. And once you start winning at life and you get wins under your belt, you get momentum. I went back to college for the fifth time. This time, you know, went back and got A's.
00:08:55
Speaker
four times I was too busy skiing and surfing and drinking and stuff to really focus on school. When I focused on school, life was pretty good. Got an A's and B's. It wasn't that hard. And just from there, my life continued to grow and grow.
Endurance Events and Special Ops Training
00:09:10
Speaker
And I stayed in the endurance field, per se, just because I liked being in shape and got married and had five kids and ended up being in therapy for me.
00:09:20
Speaker
And I kept doing that, and then I made my Iron Man come back at 50, and I've done 12 Iron Mans now, both Kona and Honolulu. There's only two of us left the world that have done both Honolulu and Kona.
00:09:33
Speaker
and then begin to train special ops guys again, as well as work with kids in general. um I became a chaplain at the University of Nevada, Reno. There's UNLV in south and then up north is UNR, which is Reno. Became chaplain at the University for football, baseball, basketball for 25 years and worked with kids that had snakes in their head like I had snakes in my head. It was really fun to watch college kids get it together and grow and go to the pros and, you know, all those kind of things.
00:10:04
Speaker
And it's been a good run. So that's sort of the backdrop. And I rode across the Atlantic this last year, 43 days, 3,100 miles, one from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean and Tigua.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I rode for a veteran suicide prevention for the the Navy SEAL guys that I knew and others that were committing suicide. So I rode that thing. It took 43 days. And as a mental resiliency coach, it was a great challenge because the longest sleep in 43 days was an hour and 45 minutes.
00:10:39
Speaker
So you wrote 12 hours a day and every three hours you get an hour and 45 minutes of sleep for 43 days and it's a trip. So I wanted to work on my mental resiliency, mental mindset and but raise some funds for veteran suicide. So that's how I that so i know Michael. And um anyway, its it's nice to meet you.
00:11:00
Speaker
Nice to meet you as well. I mean, crazy story, man. ah I got some really good snippets out of it. Snakes in your head. I hadn't heard that in a while. That's a good one. You know, um Beyond Average. That's the name of your book. Maybe tell us a bit about your book and why a man should read your book.
Book on Aging and Fitness at 66
00:11:18
Speaker
You know, um the book is written for men.
00:11:22
Speaker
ah ladies who read it. ah There's also an audio book that I narrated myself. It's on my website. My website's called Robert Hamilton Owens, my middle name is Hamilton, roberthamiltonowens.com. And the book is about um when I turned 63, I wanted to know if I could get in as good a shape as in my 60s, mid 60s as I was in my 20s on this aging thing. yeah I want to understand aging and how you work with it. Anyway, so i I got in shape and I went to work at SealFit, working out at SealFit. I did CrossFit and then I moved over to SealFit in Encinitas, now on Carlsbad. Trained with those guys. And then I did five events within seven months that the founder of Spartan Games, Joe DeSenna and Mark Devine, the founder of SealFit said, Robert Owens is the fittest and mentally tough of 66 year old in the world.
00:12:21
Speaker
And um I said, well, it's not true. They said, yeah, it is true, dude. I mean, you've done some stuff. So I did these five things. One was we ran across Greece that redid the movie 300. So we did 238 miles in eight days ah raising funds for the guys that died in Benghazi, which we Americans know about were Navy SEAL contractors got killed in Libya.
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah, and we read money for their families. And then the second one is, I did a 26 mile marathon run swim. And so we ran from one beach city to another, and you either ran or swam ran or swam for 26 miles. And of course, I was the oldest guy by 30 years to do it. But I was in shape and I was a a swimmer. So it worked out the number three, I did that that 50-hour nonstop Navy SEAL thing. And um that's the hardest thing probably I've ever done. And then number four, three weeks after that, I did my 12th Ironman. And then five weeks after that, I did the World Marathon Challenge, seven marathons and seven days on seven continents.
00:13:30
Speaker
And I'm not really a runner, but I know how to run if I have to. So you run and fly and run and fly, run and fly for seven straight days. And it starts off in Antarctica. And by the end of the race, it was 40 below zero. And it was, it wasn't a race. It was a survival moment where you just keep moving to get off the stupid snow and the course. Then from there, you go to Cape Town and that's 90 above.
00:13:58
Speaker
It's in January, so it's summertime itself in the Antarctic. And then you go to Cape Town, it's warm, it's nighty. You do two marathons in the first 19 hours. And then you do, from there you go to... um Perth, Australia, so it's like big 12-hour flight gets to sleep. And then from Perth, you go back up to Dubai for Asia. And from Asia, you go over to Lisbon for Europe. And from Europe, you go way down to Cartaganga, Colombia, for South America. And then you finish up with a three-hour flight to Miami. And um it was ah it was a real interesting mental experience to do that. And um anyway, so those five events,
00:14:41
Speaker
ah Those guys said, that's just stupid. I said, I know, I don't think I'll ever want to do it again. But when you're in a good place, you might as well knock out as much as you can. Take advantage of it because you never know what season of life you're going to be in. It'll be that kind of shape again. And so ah knock that out. And then Guy challenged me to row across the Atlantic. And I said, all right. you know So we knocked that out after that. So it's been an interesting time of challenging myself But doing these things for causes, raising funds for were good causes.
Networking and Inspiring Achievements
00:15:18
Speaker
So I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name's Raymond Aaron.
00:15:23
Speaker
Um, Raymond, uh, when he was 62, I, I, I used to train top athletes and billionaires and things like that. I used to be a fitness coach. Um, we had him prepared to do the polar race, the world's toughest race, 353 miles to lagging, dragging a sled behind you, warding off polar bears with a gun to the articleular art ah magnetic north pole. North pole. Yeah.
00:15:52
Speaker
So he did that at 62. He's into stuff like this. He's 80 right now. um But I think he'd enjoy interviewing you. Really, really, he'd love your story. And my lady, um she's she's a marathoner. She's done 23 marathons. And then she ran 12 hours on a treadmill three times and set some world records with that.
00:16:13
Speaker
there Um, I'm a, I'm a slacker compared to those guys. Um, I got myself in shape. I'll let myself go. I was out of shape, but at 55, I decided to get back into shape. I heard a bodybuilding coach and, uh, I did a bodybuilding competition in the summer at 57. Again, good for you. 35 year olds. So that was kind of cool. That's great. Good for you. It's kind of cool. kind of And your audience, when they tell you who's listening, who, who's listening to us, are they,
00:16:43
Speaker
over 50-year-old guys, the under 50-year-old guys, who do you think is after listening to us? Honestly, man, that's a good question. I don't have a ah ah comprehensive answer for you. i think I think we've got some younger men, we've got some older men that are listening to this. Well, let's do this. To all of you listening to us, do me a favor And I want you to write Nicki or email Nicki and tell him who you are, please, and tell him why you're listening to this podcast or what you get out of it. He'd like to know, and I'd like to know too, how how we can help you who are listening. That's that's a great question. Thank you very much. But i love I love who you are. I love what you've done. This is some cool, cool shit. um And I think
00:17:32
Speaker
men who are in the second half of their life, right, from over 50, need to be thinking about how to make that second half count. And that means, you know, what are you gonna spend your time on in the world of business? What are you gonna spend your time on health-wise?
Purpose and Activity in Later Life
00:17:50
Speaker
What are you gonna spend your time on with respect to friends, family, loved ones?
00:17:54
Speaker
And I think all that's super important. There's a lot of men who think about slowing down when they're in their 50s and 60s. And I think that's a mistake, man. You can be working hard in and making big things happen in your life well into your 90s. I mean, um Frank Lloyd Wright, the great architect, he was designing his biggest ever project when he passed away at 93. You bet. Yeah, like really guy the guy that that founded North Face,
00:18:24
Speaker
I heard him the other day, he's 87 and he's starting three new companies. He said, oh, I got lots of plans. And we all went, really? He goes, oh, yeah, I got i a long way to go. We said, that's great, you know. Those plans that would keep him alive. That's right. Those plans that would keep him alive.
00:18:43
Speaker
and When you stop living, you'll literally stop living. You know what I mean? When you stop living, you'll literally stop living because God intends for you to be active and productive. When you have a purpose, you're going to keep living for that purpose. When your purpose disappears,
00:19:03
Speaker
Well, then you there's no reason for you to live anymore. Really? You got nothing to do. People think, oh, yeah, I want to just relax all the time. Honestly, I don't want to relax all the time. I want to relax some of the time. But I want to do things, things that are fun, that are interesting, that are cool, that make a difference for me, for other people. I want to matter. I want to matter till the day I die. That's good. matter That's good. You know,
00:19:32
Speaker
um I'm older than you. And so let me just tell you that retirement is way overestimated as a great thing. I think it's terrible. i you know As you said, if you don't have purpose, you begin to languish.
00:19:50
Speaker
And men without a purpose get in trouble, and men out of without a purpose get comfortable, and comfortable will kill you. You are not designed to just be comfortable. You are designed to get challenges and to get wins and to take yourself on and have a reason to get it out of bed every morning. And I talked to a lot of retirees who are playing golf and they're miserable.
00:20:12
Speaker
All they do is play golf and they drink in the bar afterwards and they talk, tell their old stories about life and they're miserable because they, they've stopped living. And so there's a lot of your listeners that are not living. They're only existing. They stopped living a long time ago when they got out of their dreams. And so as you said, I mean, I'll tell you a story. I moved home to take care of my father at he was 92 and I lived with my dad from 92 to 101 and My dad was languishing because my mom died at 91. He was 92 that had married 65 years he got depressed. And I said to him, hey dad, you know, you're not doing good. He goes, I know that's why I want you to come home and take care of me. And I put him on a physical fitness program at 92 so he could get out of his chair.
Father's Transformation at 92
00:21:02
Speaker
So he'd go pee without having to call me. And he died at 101 in better shape than he was at 92. And we had a great time for those 10 years because
00:21:12
Speaker
we found things to do for him to have purpose again. And, um, I, I know lots of men that are only existing. They're not living and they haven't lived in a long time because you can stop living it in your thirties. You can stop living, living in your fifties. You can do just exist and just get by and be media ochre and be average at any place in your life. And if you don't choose to embrace challenging yourself and growing,
00:21:40
Speaker
you'll just exist and you'll be miserable and you'll be miserably around because you'll always be talking about your stuff versus the next thing for you. So I agree a hundred percent.
00:21:53
Speaker
yep It's so it's really, really important for men to have a purpose. And I really enjoyed speaking to you because you're a man who's challenged yourself and you challenge yourself at an age where a lot of men wouldn't.
Challenge and Engagement in Life
00:22:09
Speaker
you know, you decided to get in the best shape of your life. You decided to go do Kokoro. You decided to um do seven marathons and seven days on seven continents, which is pretty fricking crazy if you ask me. But it's powerful because it forces you out of your comfort zone. It really does. It really does. Part is that I'm doing these things and sometimes I really do like pinch myself.
00:22:36
Speaker
And I say, I'm so alive. I mean, I'm alive. I'm living, you know, I'm not just existing. I'm having that time of my life, taking myself on the journey of getting prepared, wrestling with yourself.
00:22:51
Speaker
And um there's some people that have never felt the exhilaration that I felt, which is many times just, I'm alive. Can you believe I'm doing this? This is so stupid. i'm I'm doing this, you know? And I get done, I shake my head. I go, wow, that was a trip. People go, you know, big whoa. And I go, no, no, no. It's the journey on the inside of taking yourself on and wrestling with yourself, discipline and embracing the suck as Goggin says, you know, and and finding a reason to get out of bed every morning. and yeah All those things, when you get done, you just go, man, I'm just so fortunate to be alive and be able to do this. And what I tried to do, and for the lister out there, maybe I say to you, but what are you capable of? You know, I don't spend any time with people my age. None. Why? Because they want me to act my age. I'm 73.
00:23:46
Speaker
And they say, why don't you track 73? I said, cause I don't want to act 73. I have a 35 year olds and I feel pretty 35 ish. They say, Mr. Owens, do another set, you know, or get another rep of Mr. Owens, you know, you could do it. And then I do it and I go, wow, I get it. You know, but if if it wasn't for the young people who are still dreaming and pushing and excited about life to be around, I hang on with 73 year olds. They're just stuck in life.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, they they they' kill your joy for life. So screw that. hey take it I want to hang around guys who are forward thinking, forward looking fit and want to be fit. That's the bottom line. That's right. It's fun. It's fun to be around them. And so I'm glad you're doing that. I'm hoping that your listeners will also, you know, say,
00:24:34
Speaker
God, I'm i'm just not doing my best. And when I say capability, I don't think about what should I be doing at 73. I think of what what am I capable of? Well, I'm capable, if I want to, of a lot of things. Like I just rode across the Atlantic. I'm the oldest American to ever rode across the Atlantic, you know? And they go,
00:24:55
Speaker
Wow, and I go, yeah, but I'm capable of probably doing this at 80. You know, if I wanted to. Probably are. You probably are. And you should be pushing yourself in these directions. The listener needs to say, what am I capable of doing? And then what's my why? Why do I want to do that? Well, because you want to be alive. And um you want to live, you want to have wins.
00:25:20
Speaker
Anyway, it's not type A driven, it's just it's fun to be living and having wins versus existing.
Inspiring Action in Men
00:25:27
Speaker
Robert, I've really enjoyed this conversation and I have another podcast I do for business people. I think I'd like to put you on that and I'm going to introduce you to a couple of guys to put you on their shows.
00:25:36
Speaker
um So. Let's make sure that we organize all that. But honestly, this has been a great conversation. I think the men that are listening to this are going to be inspired to do better. I mean, I want to inspire them with my story. I thought, hey, at 55, I dropped a bunch of weight. I got in shape. I did bodybuilding competition. But I'm nothing compared to you, man. You're 73. At 66, the great Mark Devine called you the fittest 66-year-old.
00:26:03
Speaker
Man Alive. And I think that's a fitting title for this episode. And I really want to thank you for coming on the show, brother. It's really been a lot of fun to have you on. It's been fun. And again, audience, please write Nicky and tell him why you're on this podcast and tell him what you like about this stuff. And then he'll get more guys to to help you out.
00:26:21
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. And men, if you want to hang around men that are up to things, inspired and moving forward, then um come check out our website, sovereignman dot.ca. a We have something there called the Sovereign Circle, and it's ah a peer group, a brotherhood of men, where you're going to get to be around men that uplift other men. And every man needs a circle of men, an inner circle that's going to help him be better. So come check that out.
00:26:51
Speaker
It'd be awesome to have you be at one of our meetings as our guests, because that's how it works. You come, you check it out. if you If you want to come, be a guest at a meeting that's free, come check out a meeting. And then if you like the meeting and you want to come check us out longer, we offer something called a probationary membership where you get to join us for 90 days. You check us out. We check you out. You like the way we do what we do. You'll let us know. We like how you showed up during your probationary period. We'll let you know. And if either one of us doesn't like it,
00:27:21
Speaker
We end the relationship with the 90 days, but it's a great way for you to learn how these types of groups can help push you out of your comfort zone and move you forward. but Because the comfort zone is where dreams go to die. And you getting comfortable is where you personally can literally go to die. That's right. Good job. That note, Baloo out.
00:27:45
Speaker
Thank you for listening to The Sovereign Man podcast. If you're ready to take charge of your life and become the man you've always wanted to be, we invite you to join the movement at sovereignman.ca.