How To Bounce Back – Illuminati Iron | The Danny Miranda Podcast 185

Illuminati iron thank you for coming on the podcast it's an absolute pleasure to have you here i've been following your journey for quite some time i think i reached out to you a while ago maybe in the summer and um grateful that we can make this happen today so thank you for being here appreciate you danny hell yeah so I feel like we could spend an entire episode on just your bio alone but you got van life as one of the first things and that is always fascinating to me people who decide or choose to

live in a van and how that came to be what the experience has been like and let's just start there sure man yeah so van life was actually Never on my radar on my first overseas deployment i was in the navy for about five and a half years on my first overseas deployment we were coming back to san diego and our last stop was oahu hawaii so i was actually supposed to rent a regular sedan and use that as a rental car to go around the entire island unfortunately due to You know demand for rental

cars on oahu being high there was a military exercise going on so there's just a ton of people on the island and i remember showing up at the rental car place and the gentleman goes now i'm you know really really sorry joe but unfortunately we only have one vehicle for you to rent and i was like i don't know if this is a good or bad thing he goes hey don't be alarmed i'm gonna turn the monitor here right and show you exactly what you're Getting but this will be the best two weeks of your

life in hawaii if you take it i said all right man go ahead and he slowly turned the monitor i turned away gave the peace sign absolutely not it was a free candy van a white cargo van completely empty and there was no way in hell i'm driving around the island or going through waikiki in a free candy van right and so i told him absolutely not he's like dude hey i'll Waive this fee that fee i promise me i promise you you'll come back you'll thank me later for it and so sure enough i

took the van and the dude was right so we stacked people in the back had surfboards i slept around the island in the back of it and although it was bare bones and maybe just you know a pillow and some towels it was kind of this intro to van life to where i started noticing other bands and on instagram or social media on youtube right there's a Whole community of van lifers and i said after that two weeks in hawaii if i ever get the chance to own one of these vans or be able to

convert it it will be an absolute dream and especially in southern california and having the whole west coast accessible i couldn't think of a better place and way to enjoy van life and sure enough uh the right vehicle landed in my hands and about two years ago two and a half Years ago i was able to secure a van and haven't looked back since what's been that experience like and what i mean living in a van is something most people have never experienced so what have you learned so dude i can't say that i am

a full-time van lifer so i was able to secure a home here in san diego about halfway through my military career so my daily driver is the van so i've done anything from One to three nights all the way up to three weeks almost a month in it when i went to montana and back from san diego so i can't say i'm a full event full-time van lifer would love to hopefully do it one day but what you ultimately realize or see whether it's a weekend trip or whether you know you're gone for close to

a month is that you actually don't need that much To survive or to be happy right so it kind of introduced me to a side of minimalism that got me very very excited and intrigued and as i became more and more of a minimalist so to speak and realizing hey i can bring you know maybe two bathing suits here only one rather than four or five in these different colors and you end up realizing you only wear two of them right so you start to downsize you can only pack the essentials in the van and

so not only With the van but here in my house i started looking at everything i had and realized that of course you know material goods can be fun right but ultimately they don't determine happiness and you can make certain connections or bonds with certain articles or pieces but ultimately bringing the essentials and going forward through life it's a lot less stressful you mentioned happiness i'm curious what Are the things that make you happiest right now in this moment for me man happiness honestly what i would say with myself and with other people i think

it's just living your truth so doing exactly what you love to do and being yourself right unapologetically being yourself and i know especially in this day and age that could be hard to do and i you know at Least with myself it took me some time you know to figure that out and and to really come to grip to it with it in terms of hey doing what i love no matter what people think no matter what they might say you got to do ultimately what's best for you and whether it's career whether it's relationships

whether it's anything you have to make these decisions for you because you're the one living with the consequences you're the one putting in The work to make whatever you want to make happen right so ultimately living your life and for me right now owning the van being able to take trips being able to move my body in the capacity that i can right now having the good health that i do you know despite the injury that i just recently suffered but ultimately being able to move my body and do the activities i love for me

that Brings me a lot of joy and happiness you mentioned that it was difficult for you to come to that place or make those realizations what happened where you were able to make the realizations and and what was difficult about that process so i would never say that at least growing up and going through college and everything after that i don't think i was ever In my life trying to be someone else but maybe in certain ways held back from really releasing my personality or my true passions i think sometimes too of course within the

gym scene or the fitness scene i would often times like hold back i never wanted to be that dude that you know we all know that goes around and tells people you know that they work out that they're into fitness they just went To the gym i mean that stuff can get annoying i think and ultimately letting the work and everything you're putting into letting that speak for itself i think is extremely important inside and outside of fitness but i would definitely say when i had the opening of my illuminati iron account and i started

that business and posting my stories and all my content i said From the very beginning ultimately on social media you see a lot of people crafting narratives a lot of people trying to be someone else from the very beginning of this all we're going to keep it transparent be myself if i you know i'm having a tough day or things aren't going my way honestly we tell the people we show the people if things are going really really well i'm finding success or i'm feeling a good wave of momentum Let people feed off of that

energy if i'm done with you know a challenge or you know a fitness obstacle that i've been working my ass off to tackle and we can we complete it or succeed and i want to scream in the camera and you know get all crazy-eyed and just not hold back then i'm going to do it and i think people these days especially which is a good thing they can read through the bs right you can tell when someone's not being authentic or genuine so i think From the very beginning i just doubled down on being genuine

organic and living my truth and just documenting not always trying to create but just documenting the process the journey at least my own life and if people find value in it then great and if not it's all good too what made you so confident to be your true self online and why didn't you censor yourself in a way because a lot of people are dealing with That issue of censoring themselves or not being able to put themselves really out there as they want to be why were you able to do that i think as you

grow older one thing i've realized is that everybody has insecurities and everybody has problems or obstacles going on in their life and when you come to realize as you get older that You know i use this mantra a lot of this motto in a few different realms right but ultimately like nobody cares like nobody cares and obviously the problems we have the obstacles we're facing we need to tackle those and address them and ultimately take responsibility and when you start to realize that no one's really looking maybe like at your outfit or like you know

maybe that pimple you have on your Face that you think everybody's looking at or watching nobody really ever notices that and nobody cares so when you kind of realize that everyone has stuff going on other people are just better at hiding it than others and you can realize hey i'm a human i have x y and z going on i'm good at this i'm not good at that hey we all have strengths we all have weaknesses and i think when you showcase that and you're honest and open the Feedback at least i can say within

the dms with people saying hey this is really cool that you showed yourself not being good at this particular movement or exercise or it's really cool to see how you built up over time it gives me inspiration or confidence that i can do the same whether it's art writing fitness right so we're all in different journeys we all have different goals just you know who's going to work hard for and what are you expecting out of The work you're putting into it yeah i like to say that nobody cares and everybody cares at the same

time so nobody cares being what you just said your insecurities really don't matter no one's focusing on your insecurities everybody cares meaning that the content that you put out the things you say in real life which is basically the content you put out people care about that and it actually does influence and impact them in a real Way so balancing those two is extremely important but you mentioned before about how you have had this impact on people people feel connected to you through your content and you in particular that's what made me ask you to

be on the podcast was because i could sense the realness the authenticity the truth of who you were coming onto the screen and i was attracted to that i'm sure you've gotten That many times before so tell me about like some of the stories that you've personally impacted people through the messages you've received or a particular story that stands out in terms of impacting someone on a deep level sure man so of course in person i am a personal trainer right so i'm working with clients in my gym and i Would say and i think

a lot of trainers out there can you know share this experience so to speak but i would say on a daily basis seeing your clients come in whether they're having the best day or the worst days you see them at least showing up and that's a big big accomplishment it's just the hardest thing is showing up and getting there once you start moving everything falls in the line and starts going and you know usually a positive trajectory So i would say seeing people that i've been working with for quite some time now overcoming personal obstacles

in their life and still making time for the gym or their health and their fitness basically investing in themselves whether it's one day a week or five day a week for me i think that's super super special and i'm very grateful that they choose to work with me at least on the online presence and you know everything That i put out on my social media there are so many examples and i think a lot of people out there that are maybe making content or hopefully you know inspiring or giving other people confidence in themselves or

their abilities is you see how many people whether it's injuries whether it's you know finances whether it's accidents or just personal you know obstacles that come up in life Like i said earlier we all have things going on and the things people have shared with me via the dm of you know maybe a family member themselves getting diagnosed with a really you know terrible disease or illness i know especially since my recent injury the number of people who have reached out who have also torn you know a bicep tendon or maybe just got in a

motorcycle Accident or you know dislocated the shoulder and they're on their road of recovery too we all have different journeys like i said and just seeing the community come together i know especially with my recent injury right everyone kind of coming around me when i was in a really dark time still focused and realizing i needed to push forward and you know listen to myself and love myself at the same time realize hey no one's going to Do this work for us we have to put in the work the love the support everybody in general

tackling their demons and going forward it's very very inspirational so everything i say on my page with like one team to the top and i couldn't do this without all my followers 100 mean it so you mentioned the injury and i remember watching that and seeing that and Before before the injury i was like man this dude is absolutely ripped out of his mind and incredible shape and so being in that place your identity must be going to the gym it's part of your mental and now that gets taken away from you at least in

some respect tearing both of your bicep tendons is that right Yes sir so yeah so take me through that process of literally that day that next day how you feel knowing you're not going to be able to work out at least your biceps for a long time where do you go this advice for someone in a in a dark place or somebody who loses their identity in a moment is real and can be useful whether or not they go to the gym Or whether or not they're transitioning into a new portion of their life how

do you deal when your identity at least for a moment gets taken away from you sure man it's a fantastic question you know i've been training for 10 years consistently and everyone you know gets hurt so to speak we all get knicks and knacks or you know have to listen to the body Maybe take a break here and there but ultimately i had no injuries in 10 years we get hurt like i said every once in a while but nothing severe or crazy so this was my first injury and it was tough uh very very

tough uh for the listeners out there i was performing a preacher curl i was seated a little bit too low it was a makeshift Preacher curl bench and i was seated a few inches too low which is the very bottom of my last rep of the last set of these preacher curls the very bottom of the rep both distal bicep tendons popped and my biceps shot up in my arm disclosure anyone who watches the video i know some people really love these type of videos after i edited it and watched it once i can't live

it again it's too much for me But content warning on it it's pretty graphic and pt's my surgeon of you know 25 30 plus years they had said they had never seen both bicep tendons rupture at the exact same time and it's right there on footage for everyone and i knew i was pretty much screwed as soon as that happened and Arms absolutely hurt my body went into shock and of course got the mri and it confirmed what the injury was and i know a lot of people out there especially my followers or just in

general athletes or people that are training these things happen and it's one of those things mentally i would tell you or to anyone is that nothing in life nothing is guaranteed right so in terms Of you know my injury so to speak you know talking with the pt and surgeon i mean there's people out there that you know blow out their knees or even um you know pop their achilles just jumping or walking off from the sidewalk and so these freak things can happen and it really comes down to once it happens and this adversity

hits you how are you going to tackle it now my thing that brings me a lot of joy and happiness because going back to what You said about you know doing what i love and what i'm passionate about fitness for me through the highs and low of life has been my outlet of getting through and dealing with things so whether it's a 15 or 20 minute workout or maybe an hour and a half or two hours of getting after it for me i think health and fitness is a lifestyle and so having that temporarily getting

that taken away from you or at least having to modify and adapt Can be very very difficult and a change so i was going from knocking out some of these challenges and you know doing bicep curls or pull-ups and push-ups and doing things that brought me a lot of happiness i mean rollerblading love rollerblading right and now i can't do those things the next day so the question is like what can we do and that's a question that where you have to leave your ego at the door and For me at least it was leading

up to the surgeries and then after it was a mile walk a mile mile and a half walk at the end of the evening just to move the body and do something and your inclination at first is oh i'm not going to do that that's not going to do anything for you well what we definitely know is not moving your body at all and sitting on the couch feeling sorry for yourself that's not going to do anything for you Either so in my mind to keep everything open to keep everything activated at least to what

i could control right you have to look at what you can control and what you can't and kind of slowly but surely recovering from this injury and hearing how other people have dealt with their injuries you kind of realize that hey there's a lot of people that are rooting for you there's a lot of people that have a lot of good Insight that have experience sometimes you know doing less is more so really listening to your body here and realizing that we're trying to build ourselves or grow for the future at least for myself right

like i joke about this online but also i'm very very serious is like what's my goal my goal is to be a future delve right someone in his 40s 50s maybe a gilf right someone that's 67 years old who's got it going on that's able to move to Be able to still do the activities they love which could mean you know playing with their kids or grandkids hiking the mountains of hawaii rollerblading being able to get after it with pull-ups like there's living examples of people in their 60s 70s and 80s that are still active

and so the question is is why not us a lot of people don't have that same goal but at least i do and so what i'm Trying to do now is set myself up for the future and that's where this injury really took a big hit is because you know there's a little bit of time here why i have to at least you know of course take it easy and let my tendons mend back to the bone we're going to play the long game we're going to be smart about it but you know sure as

hell when we're able to get back to it again and doing what we were doing before once again being smart warming up the body Doing all the small things that we were doing before and realizing that hey freak accidents can happen you mentioned that it's your goal to be in great shape in your 60s 70s 80s and i'm curious where does that goal come from so i've always been about longevity i've always thought it was cool and of course being 20 30 something year old in shape i think it takes work um i love to

see It of course right but to me what's impressive is being able to be 60 70 80 years old and still doing it and what you start to see through time whether it's family friends strangers that a lot of people start to let themselves go or they start using age as a crutch and of course physically things change within all of us right but ultimately there are people that show you right that it is possible And i think looking at living examples like i mentioned earlier right like i remember for example i remember being at

a gym during some military training in virginia i remember there was a gentleman who i thought maybe was you know 40 42 years old you know his name was leroy anthony and he was just alpha this gym he looked great you know he was definitely older than most of us young Cats but he looked great like i said 40 42 years old and i went up to him and started talking to him picking his brain and this gentleman was close to 60 years old he looks fantastic very young i started asking him you know what's

the secret you know what got you to be in such great shape looking so good and obviously moving well how at your age have you been able to do it And what you start to notice when you talk to people like this is they all have a pretty common answer right everyone's journey is different right but they all come down to saying it's all about consistency right and when people start to fall off or you start wanting to get lazy don't take your foot off the gas pedal there's going to be different stages throughout your

journey where you're going to feel a little bit More tired or you're not going to want to go and you know do that workout or crush that walk or do that hike or that run you're capable but you just don't want to if you can push through some of those obstacles or barriers that too will be in the past and you'll keep progressing and moving forward and not only leroy anthony in virginia but i remember hiking in kauai right another island not oahu but another island there in Hawaii and i remember being on this hike

you know i'm in my mid 20s early 20s here blowing by people feeling good moving great but then a couple blew by me and i was like who are they now this couple was in their 70s and they blew by me like no tomorrow finally caught up to them at the very top of the mountain and once again asked them you know what's the secret or do You mind if i ask how old you are and they were like 75 70 years old and what'd they say for the last 20 30 or 40 years we've

been going to the gym at least two to three times a week doing the activities we love and as family or friends of ours have started to fall off or let it go we didn't and so i see people like that making an example or showing that it's Possible and how cool would that be i guess to be their age doing those same things or if you really get deeper and these are things that i think a lot of people especially younger folks don't think about like how awesome would it be to be able to

go to the bathroom literally like squatting down and then obviously standing back up like unassisted like having that freedom and independence Where you start seeing a lot of people not being able to do that at that age and i think for me at least perspective wise with this injury my freedom and independence has been taken from me temporarily and so just getting a glimpse of for me personally being an independent person having to rely on other people and that support and help that's been really difficult for me and so i can only Imagine as getting

older if i can do something now to limit the chances of that happening in the future i'm all in to do that you mentioned leroy giving you that great advice about the consistency aspect of it and how you have these lulls in your passion for the work at certain times Or you can find yourself using excuses i'll i'll put myself on blast right now and say i finished 75 hard this program by andy friscilla a few weeks ago and i've kind of used that as an excuse finishing to dial it back on my workouts dial

it back on my running and i'm curious what you would say to me other than just do the damn work but What advice you would have for somebody who is seeing themselves lean into the excuses and yeah talk to that person or me directly in that moment so dude i think it's all about i mean in my opinion i think one of the top traits or the best traits in general is self-awareness It's something that i think we're all working on or at least intentionally i know i have a way to go and continue to

work on it but i think really looking at your situation your environment and ultimately your goals what is the input or what is the work required to get you to where you want to be and that's different for everybody right so if you're looking to maybe do a Half marathon or a full marathon or an ultra marathon there's obviously different levels of work that go into that or maybe it's with a podcast and wanting to do x number of episodes per week or per month or per year what is the work required for that and

so that's sometimes a difficult conversation to have because you may you know fall short of that work required and so the question is is you're not Doing that work maybe you're you know maybe doing a little too much or not at least properly allocating the work in a balanced way so to speak in different levels of your life or different aspects once again it's all personal and you know everyone's different but i think the self-awareness to look and see how you're doing maybe being happy with what's going on but not satisfied is extremely important And

listening to your body not only with physical health but i do believe with mental health as well and i know there's a culture out there as well as like pushing through but there's also a time where you really need to take care of yourself and to be able to take care of other people whether that's you and your family you with roommates you know you as a brother or sister or a co-worker whatever it may be I truly believe that taking care of yourself is a really important first step and slowly but surely you can

add and build up but getting those micro victories and those you know smaller momentous goals being accomplished you can build over time and momentum is extremely extremely powerful um and so once again everybody's different in how they're trying to approach it but I think seeing or at least learning from a bunch of different people seeing what works well for them um and maybe what could work well for you or what doesn't work well for them but does work well for you right there's not one way to do it so we're all different people with different

goals different obstacles take a little bit from different people and craft it into what you can form as your lifestyle Yeah you mentioned the mental health piece of it and how you know it's important to push through but it's also important to be aware of yourself how do you know when to push through and when to give yourself a break it's tough man it's very very tough i think there's a fine line there i think emotions especially You really need to be in tune with yourself or continue to work on being entombed yourself to understand

what's going on so for example like someone like myself for example getting out of a relationship a really awesome relationship and breaking up with a significant other that is very very difficult and it's okay to be upset or to be sad so not being Mad at yourself or tough on yourself to where you shouldn't be experiencing this certain emotion i think accepting and realizing what's going on and what's causing that is a great first step and then understanding that there's certain things in place that are going to help you get out of that difficult time

or that rough spot so for me for example right getting out of that relationship For me i remember the first two or three weeks that was absolute hell it was a dark spot i was really sad upset and i did not want to work out i didn't want to move my body i really didn't want to do anything but i looked at myself in the mirror and said you know Especially as you preach all the time on social media that these are the times you at least need to get in there and do something it

doesn't have to be crazy doesn't have to be over the top but don't be a hypocrite you're talking about all the time people facing obstacles or tough times this is the time you got to get in there and make something happen whether instagram sees it or not you need to get in there and not be a Hypocrite and sure enough went in there every day for three weeks because i knew chemically not only physically right but chemically i was gonna be better for it and sure enough you get done with that 10 15 60 minute

sweat sesh and you feel better okay so i just tackled that that's a huge win today well now let's clean the room or organize the Room boom we got that done hey i have never gone to the grocery store maybe by myself or have always relied on someone else and you know facing the spice rack is absolutely insane very scared but we're going to address that fear tackle it boom you go to trader joe's for the first time you address the spice rack now you start cooking on your own for the first time and you

know rachel ray right but you get things going and boom Slowly but surely everything rises right so you build up momentum and now you know when you face other obstacles in your life or things going on you look back and you go hey i felt like this before i remember a very difficult time that i used you know health and fitness as a healthy outlet to tackle those demons that were eating me up okay i can get through this so it gives you Confidence now you see other people maybe it's you know the followers people

on the team or maybe you know a really close friend or family member you know who now takes the advice or you can actually look them in the eye and tell them what you did or what what i did to get through it now they see success so they can you know feel better through moving their body on a walk or a hike or a workout and so it's contagious and people feed Off one another and ultimately see that hey if you trust the process if you really believe and you know what's going to help

you and whether you feel like it or not follow through with it and get that micro victory dude it builds up and doubles down over time dude you're like an 80s workout coach combined with a 20 40 mindset like it's the craziest thing It's very cool to see and cool to witness and i'm sure that friends and family have seen this personality for a long time but you putting it out there has led other people to seen it see it as well what do you think has contributed to this personality of high vibration and just

the catch phrases and and it's so clearly you It's uh it's like no one could create that on their own what do you think's contributed to that personality i think it all stems from just passion and it goes back to what we talked about before with transparency and just saying it how it is really and i get fired up about this stuff because not only has health and fitness brought a lot of joy and confidence and you know open doors for me that i never thought were Possible but like i said i get fired up

personally seeing other people do well that's just me i know that's not always common but i love seeing people do well i love seeing people take control of their life not only in fitness but in other aspects as well and i think through time once again i've been training i can only speak here on the health and fitness side but My journey with health and fitness like anything has evolved through the years and so through my time at the naval academy and being in college and you know that grinding to speak in itself not only

with the academics but you know turning to the gym and getting better and putting time and effort into my physical fitness to becoming an officer in the navy and be stationed here in san diego right so Not only on the deployments but you know at the base gyms i grew as a person once again not only inside or outside but also inside and then of course being here with my home gym and doubling down on trying to create and build you know the greatest home gym in southern california each chapter has held a special place

in my life for my development and spur and my Perspective i think has evolved through time and through the ups and downs of life the common ground of moving the body sweating demons out and just trying to get better even if we're not always successful but we're at least trying i think that's super inspirational i know i rely and i feed off of other people doing well and it's why i like to see people's victories and i love people in the dms Reaching out or telling me that they just conquered you know this new goal

or maybe they were in bed you know early at a seven o'clock at night and you know they had blown off their workout but after seeing my story they got their ass out of bed and went and did you know a body weight or calisthenics circuit you know and went and showered and got back in bed and we're so happy that they At least move and did something and they they thanked me for me i feed off of that and i just love seeing people do well man so you know when i get fired up

about something whether you know it's someone else's victory or something they're doing um or something where i've tackled something because i put a lot of time and effort into it i just released the hounds man i really do and i know that you know we're not always going to win we're not Always going to be successful but i think it's the path and the journey that's the most important how has the the military background impacted all of this so my goal and my dream man was to go to the naval academy that was my my

dad was a graduate of the institution and so growing up that was always where my eyes were to getting to annapolis and I just thought it was so cool and wanted to do my part and you know join the service and obviously at a younger age just from coming from my father you know discipline was always something that was in the household and i would say that through my time at the academy and then of course in the fleet discipline was always you know an Important aspect of the job and i think especially getting into

the fleet and working with sailors and marines it goes back once again to self-awareness man and and doing your job and understanding what you know and don't know which isn't always easy but i was super fortunate and lucky enough to have great sailors great marines who honestly made me look good when i didn't deserve to but there was Definitely camaraderie and the experiences as an officer in the fleet going overseas whether that was southeast asia whether that was in the middle east i think i learned about myself a lot as a person um you know

stressors things that i didn't think would make me tick but but do things that i handled well but i knew that i could handle better i think the military in general and it's Not for everyone i don't think everyone should you know join or get into it but if you're interested about it learn about it and and see if it's something that maybe is the right fit for you but ultimately i think discipline and being able to take care of yourself so once again you can take care of other people i think it's super super

important and there's always things that Come up that you don't know and realizing you don't know these things but making a conscious effort and a direct intentional effort to address that and continue to learn i think not only yourself but other people recognize that and um you know just be yourself man i think that's the biggest thing the camaraderie of it is something that is really apparent from the outside looking in And i'm curious how you how you think we can get to a more a place of greater camaraderie between fellow american citizens today it

doesn't have to be america but it could be anywhere how do we increase the level of camaraderie between people in a day and age when it seems like people are so far apart sure dude i think it's really focusing on The similarities between people and understanding once again that we all have certain obstacles certain challenges and certain backgrounds as well you know and i think too with my brand with illuminati iron where it all kind of stems from it doesn't matter what your name is the color your skin how much money you make anyone and

everyone can make an impact everyone whether it's on a minor scale Or a major scale people are feeding off one another so at least with illuminati iron where i can speak up for the brand you focusing on yourself and will say your health your fitness people are watching and feeding off even subconsciously the vibes you're putting out right so if you surround yourself with you know toxic content if you're always stressed if you're always negative People will feed off of that if you're focusing on bettering yourself being a better husband wife girlfriend boyfriend um sibling

co-worker if you're just trying to do better and be better you know we're not talking about perfection here we're talking about progress people will feed off that and they will that will translate into their lives and then other people will feed off them so That there's this continuous wave of everyone i would say camaraderie or everyone together on their own paths or you know tackling their own truth um just trying to be happy and when you realize that you're not going to be happy 24 7. it's just you know not practical there's things that come

up there's stressors you know there's obstacles Understanding hey i'm not happy right now this is just maybe a temporary phase or maybe i need to do a little bit of work on myself in this area or that area but ultimately this too shall pass and when you're able to look at other people that are also grinding or other people that you know you can trust and you know open up with your problems or lean on to during time to support hey it goes you know vice versa or likewise when maybe sometimes those people are Struggling

and going through that and so if we can all come together and focus on the things you know that unite us as humans i think that's extremely important definitely and you talked before about loving yourself and how that is something you've been doing recently and i'm curious if you could go deeper into that especially when a time when fitness hasn't been a part of your life or at least as strong of a part as it once was Pre-injury so how do you go about loving yourself when you don't have something that you use to love

yourself sure man i would say it all comes down to gratitude and it's something with perspective i think it's linked but gratitude it's something that i'm trying to really focus on right now i'm not perfect with it but Being grateful or having gratitude and practicing it to that i'm still alive i'm still here and despite my plans for 2021 not going the way i want them to obviously with this injury being a huge setback shifting the focus and being able to remain positive and have that mindset has been a challenge because it's unknown territory and

you can read all the books about it right you can watch All the podcasts or read these articles but you never know some of these things until you find yourself deep in them and so for me you know i thought i could relate to someone who maybe has a pretty you know tough injury but the fact that now being in the injury i'm living it i feel like i'm able to connect more with people who are suffering injuries or getting setbacks in their own career Whether they're professional athletes everyday gym goers you know that's been

super powerful and inspirational for me to be able to connect with other people that i wouldn't have had this opportunity to unless i got injured and so it sucks that i got injured and got hurt and aren't able to do all the things they love but if i can try to focus on the fact that it could always be worse That's something too that a lot of people you know we all take for granted sometimes the common things around the house or our ability to move our bodies i know i'm guilty of this for sure

but like i'm even like looking at the doorknob right now and like opening a door used to be so easy for me i never thought anything about it now obviously with You know two braces on my arms and both you know bicep tendons recovering i'm very like scared or like a little bit anxious and i kind of i would say kind of um what's the right word i don't flinch but i kind of cringe every time i open a door because i'm bracing and almost living through that trauma of the injury to my arms and

so recognizing that trauma or realizing hey we got a way to go we have to keep you Know adjusting and at least realizing what's happening here and to kind of embrace it as a part of the journey instead of avoiding it all together and not opening any doorknobs there's just all these things that you kind of come with these daily taskers that i used to take for granted i know personally and you see people as well that get into car accidents or have these diseases or illnesses and You know you see the struggles and uh

the demons they're facing and tackling and it breaks my heart and it's really really sad to see but it makes me also realize that although i have you know an injury to both arms hey lower body wise i'm still able to move and get from point a to b without any issues so just being grateful and practicing gratitude that hey i'm still here and anything can happen at any time to any one of us I think it's just about prospective men and keeping that in place what other parts of your life have been most impacted

you mentioned the doorknob as one what other ways have you noticed a huge difference in the way you're interacting with the world now great question dude i've definitely had to ask people for help and support with daily activities you know especially after the injury after the Surgery i needed help you know showering uh thank goodness at least i was able to throughout this entire time go to the bathroom by myself but i know a lot of people through injuries and things going on they're unable to do that so i was very fortunate lucky to be

able to maintain that throughout this entire journey there's a time where i wasn't able to drive from point a to b because of my Arms so getting rides and help from people uh was something that i felt bad asking and i didn't want to be a burden on people um but understanding and realizing that there are people in your life that care about you and that want to help and will actually be mad or upset if you don't you know reach out to them for a helping hand um and i would say to anyone you

know if you see someone struggling Through something or going through something if you do want to help you know offer that and people will feed off of that or be super grateful and thankful as i know i am throughout all of this i would tell you that independence probably has been the biggest hit because i prided myself especially before the injury is being able to do all these things on my own And of course you know at least with my business and training clients and people spreading the word with my posts or my stories i

don't ever have thought that i could do that on my own i need everybody's help on that and that is definitely i believe a team aspect but at least within my own hygiene and the things that i like to do to keep the house tidy these are all things that have been had to be put on pause and Slowly but surely you know they're coming back but it's um it's wild man it's a wild ride injuries in general are no fun they suck but if you do it right hopefully the first time you can bounce

back and you take care of your body and your body will take care of you and what would you say has been the the most surprising benefit of having your injury so i always took Especially like i said after that breakup where i doubled down on my nutrition started addressing the almighty spice rack and started just cooking meals on my own and doubling down on nutrition not only for the physical benefits and the mental benefits of course right but also saving money because i was noticing and seeing once i started a budget and seeing where

i was spending my money on i encourage Everyone out there although you may not want to do it take a look at your credit card statements or where your money's going and i noticed with myself even if they were healthy restaurants or healthier choices i was personally blowing a lot of money going out to eat and i think it's all about balance and i do believe it's important to go out and share meals and get around the table you know with friends or with dates or whatever you Like to do but ultimately realizing that if

you're trying to get really healthy about your fitness doubling down on nutrition is i would tell you honestly 70 to 80 of the game and who can stay most consistent with that and just because it's the weekend doesn't mean it's time to just throw it away friday saturday and sunday Because oh it's the weekend if you want to go out and enjoy and celebrate and you know get together with people do so but ultimately realize that you can't throw everything away to the fact that we're kind of starting from day one so to speak on

that on that monday or so or you know your body's not really fully recovered until tuesday or wednesday of the week and then now all of a sudden it's friday again and you're going out hard there's nothing wrong with living That lifestyle but just keep everything into perspective or realize that you know if you're boozing or drinking or eating like crap three four six seven days a week don't expect certain results you know it's just keeping it real so to speak and so if you double down you have these certain goals with your nutrition you

start to see wow i went from just feeling good or okay To feeling great so now feeling great becomes the standard and so eating in gives you momentum and you're eating these great meals or at least they're getting better in time as you're practicing you're trying new ingredients you're learning from this video or a friend comes over and teaches you this you become the expert at salmon now right and you feel good after that meal you're training hard right all These things coming to a line feeling great becomes the standard now so now if you

fly to austin texas and you're chilling out with your boys and wolfing down barbecue and you know drinking beer and you have a great weekend in austin you go from feeling great to maybe just feeling good or okay now feeling good and okay is almost kind of like feeling bad i think it's important to go take that Trip to austin and enjoy it with you know friends and family and let loose sometimes right or vegas wherever it may be but ultimately realize or be in tune with yourself when you're going damn i'm flying back to

san diego right now i'm flying back to new york i feel like trash like the food and the drink is just not feeling great with my stomach hey we had fun this weekend it's time to get back on it As soon as we land home whether that's making you know a meal in the kitchen or at least for me i know you know getting off a 23-hour flight from bangkok thailand or traveling from medellin colombia back here to san diego and you've been flying all day or all night you're now home and the question is

what are you going to do are you going to push everything you know you need to do to the right or are you going to tackle it as soon as you get home and for me Personally i found great success where i get home at 11 o'clock at night after that 23 hour flight there's no time to push it or procrastinate do you think i want to work out and get out for it absolutely not and i said it i was very transparent in that story for example keeping it real the people i don't want

to do this [ __ ] right now nobody does but After sweating some demons for 20 30 60 minutes you get done you put a protein shake down maybe you have a nice good meal right you shower up and you stretch and you get in bed and boom you sleep like a baby and you wake up the next day going damn i can't believe that i actually did that i feel really good that i did that now whenever i have something similar like that in the future i can once again remember and look back At

that memory or that crazy 23 hour flight or traveling that i did and i was still able to pull it off you know so you can pat yourself on the back for doing that be happy but once again don't be satisfied because all you're doing is gearing up for the next battle for the next trench and when you start connecting with like-minded people and realizing once again that we're all going through [ __ ] and we're trying to figure out life we don't have it figured Out but we're at least trying that like i'm getting

goosebumps right now i can [ __ ] feel it right now man you know like people just just tackling and getting through things that i know are difficult it gives me a lot of confidence and inspiration to where it gives me the mindset that when i really need to dig deep i do yeah and you going through what you've gone through gives me inspiration Because here i am thinking this guy's been through a lot he's had his identity taken away from him he's had the ability or he can't do the thing he loves right now

and here he is on this podcast with joy with energy trying to motivate trying to inspire trying to be the best version of himself and so that motivates me that inspires me so you're doing incredible work from that perspective as well so thank you man it's incredible i appreciate you man and i think a word You said there in terms of like inspiration or i would say so motivation i think it's really really important to understand and realize within all of us is that motivation can come and it can go just as fast or just

as quick and that's what's really linked up with lifestyle and so through the highs and lows of life whether things are going your way and morale is high or you're going through some stuff Then morale is low trusting and falling into that routine of that lifestyle can absolutely help or save you because if you rely on just feeling good or you know training only when you want to you're going to find out real quick that there will be weeks or months where you really don't feel like it or maybe hell the sun starts studying at

4 30 like it is here in san diego i'll tell you right now for me morale is low it starts Getting a little bit chillier or cold because as soon as i moved to the west coast i got real soft and weak with cold weather right had no problem you know arguing fighting with my parents in boston or outside of boston about you know wearing shorts in the winter because mom dad you know it's not that cold please let me wear shorts to school right and now if it's underneath you know 60 65 degrees i'm

complaining and super Cold but ultimately the sun's setting early it's a little bit more chilly there's a lot of days here dude where like i don't feel like training or want to get after it especially now that my upper body is on pause you know i can only do lower body work or like work on my core so like this is the time right now or in these days or stretches when i'm not feeling it hey trust the process and realize live the lifestyle do exactly What you preach because you know you'll be better for

it so motivation comes and goes recognizing that that's normal is a really important first step because you can't rely on it there's a real sense of humility i get from listening you speak and and self-awareness as well you've touched on the self-awareness piece but i'm curious where you think the humility of you comes from dude i mean I think it's understanding and realizing that there's people out there in general that are better at things than you and are worse at things than you so everyone's different everyone has strengths and weaknesses and there's nothing wrong with

competition right friendly competition or even competition within yourself i think it's really important ultimately in terms of what drives you or what inspires you To realize that it's you versus you and you can't do things for other people it's got to come from you and ultimately what you're looking to get out of life and so i realize there's things with my within myself that um i'm improving on and i become you know good at or decent at and there are things that i'm really really bad at and i think it's super easy to practice or

work on those things that we're good at and i think it's important to keep Honing in on those scales or those strengths but also ferociously attacking the things you're not that great at to where maybe you are really bad at something and now you're decent at it and what's crazy is if you continue that process over time you start to see that maybe sometimes those weaknesses can become your strengths and i honestly truthfully man don't think I'm talented in in many things i think what i've noticed in myself is that it all comes down to

consistency and work and at least to what i found success in i have so much confidence or i truly believe in other people being able to do a lot of the things that i do like the human body dude is absolutely nuts i know you've talked to A lot of great people in the health and fitness world human performance people's resilience stories like it's absolutely crazy and if you start breaking down sometimes these flashy or crazy numbers and you realize that a lot of these people and i know with myself it all started somewhere small

and slowly over time it grew so for example when i did 2020 pull-ups in that session or i did You know the triple murph or can tuplet murph or these push-up challenges where i've grown and slowly but surely built dude i remember when i first did one of those challenges and like doing 50 or 100 reps kicked my ass right so like i asked someone if you're looking to get into pull-ups or push-ups or doing calisthenics or at least seeing what you're capable of start small Right like with a pull-up a pull-up marathon if you

can do for example one pull-up right that's the hardest thing it's just getting that one clean wrap now every minute on the minute for 10 minutes just do one no i don't want you to compare yourself to the person on instagram or social media right or look at what illuminati irons doing hell with him right hell With me you versus you one rep every minute for 10 minutes boom that's a 10 pull up marathon right or maybe you can do five push-ups right so maybe five push-ups every minute on the minute for ten all of

a sudden now you got those reps under your belt you know you can do that so the next time Double it or maybe add five more rounds or five more minutes and so you slowly but surely practice continue to build up and now you're doing something where you're doing hundreds of reps or thousands of reps and people think you're crazy you're insane i beg to differ i don't think so now i think maybe my enthusiasm my passion for this might be You know above average or a little in left field that's cool that's me i

accept that but ultimately when someone looks at me and says that's impossible or i could never do that i disagree with them it's all about whether you want to or not and whether you're willing to put in the work and putting the work can come down to those moments like i said if you go through that breakup or you have a Family member drop on you that they're going through you know chemo or cancer now or your life just gets you know turned upside down but you still manage to get in and do those small

things that ultimately build into these big results i think if you can really find love and joy in the process you know the results and uh the wins will come it's just a matter of time And you know who knows whether it's you know term or long term that's going to come down to us and sometimes things you know we can control or can't control but ultimately it's the journey in the path man and so for me i realize i don't have all the answers i'm always trying to learn always trying to feed off good

people and i don't know it all but ultimately i can do the best i can and when i'm not doing the best i can or i start trying to take my foot off the gas A little bit i gotta whip myself back into you know the mindset of hey this is what's going on don't let it slide get back on it of all the challenges that you've done which one are you the most proud of so i recently just got off a podcast a couple days ago and i got asked a similar question to this

and he asked me What was the hardest challenge that i had done and i responded with triple murph so doing three consecutive murfs back to back to back and for anyone listening out there it's a tribute workout to a fallen navy seal lieutenant michael murphy you start off with a mile run and you have to complete 300 air squats 200 push-ups and 100 pull-ups following with a one-mile run all in a 20 pound weight vest you can add weight to the weight best or you can just go body weight regardless getting after it paying tribute

to someone i think is really special so i did three of those back to back to back and because i was trying to do that within two hours there Was that time limit for me intensity wise i really had to work for it and my mind you know fluttered there and i wanted to quit multiple times but really thinking about the question you just asked and what matt asked me the other day you know each challenge is so different and once again certain challenges are going to be different for different people based off Of strengths

and weaknesses but pull-ups you know have their own challenges right dips absolutely kick my ass so anything i do with dips you know i really have to be you know tuned in and focused on every single rep mine can't wander there or else you can get really hurt of course um air squats i mean those suck like it all sucks or is difficult in their own Way i know the torture bike right satan's tricycle i remember where like the first time i ever got on that air bike five minutes kicked my ass it was awful

it's still awful right and then i built up the 10 minutes and so now you're able to do 10 calories every minute on the minute for 10 minutes and it whoops your butt and then all of a sudden something happens in this case like kobe bryant Passed away and so you know to honor his jersey number right of 24 i did 24 minutes on that air bike oh that's crazy dude damn and for me it was a big win or people thought it was nuts but then i did 30 minutes the next time right and

then that 30 minutes goes into an hour to two hours and now you're able to do three hours every 10 minutes maintaining that pace of 10 calories and so it all builds up every challenge at least in its time I would think to answer your question is like the hardest thing or one of the most difficult things at that time but in terms of pride and like what you overcame they all have their own obstacles and when doubt starts to creep in your mind or like the temperature all of a sudden starts to get really

warm and the sun is in your eyes and like the wind seems to be like blowing You know in your face and just smacking you on the run and you just want to quit i think what you're most proud of is during whatever obstacle comes in you were able to push through smart and responsibly right if you really have an injury or something that's nagging or like you know you have to it's a fine line be determining like where you're actually going to get injured here and do you know long-term damage on your body or

whether it's your Mind or maybe that you know small voice in your head trying to get you to quit you really have to be in tune to you know which voice or which signal your body's giving you but a majority of the time it's people you know just wanting to take the path of least resistance and i think when that voice comes in as it does with me all the time you build confidence and you become more and more proud of yourself overcoming The obstacles and i think it's good to celebrate those challenge wins but

like you've seen on my page hopefully you know we celebrate that win or we talk about it that day once again the next day nobody cares where are you now and where are you going you can be very proud and we can you know be stoked to see the things people have done but what's the next step that's the biggest thing is living in The present um you know being intentional with what you're doing now to hopefully set yourself up in the future for success illuminati iron i think that's a beautiful place to come to

a close i am so grateful for your energy your wisdom your consistency and your effort over the past since i've been following you and since your lifetime it's been incredible watching your journey and i hope to Continue doing so thank you for giving me the pleasure of talking to you today and where can people connect with you further really appreciate you having me on the podcast man you're killing it man so love to see you doing all the great things you're doing people can see me or find me at illuminati iron on social media my

website illumination.com i'm always a dm or email away really appreciate everyone who follows along or Is a part of the team just trying to keep it real understand my page in account isn't for everyone but if you're looking for some inspiration some motivation even a chuckle here and there once again life you know you can't take it too seriously have fun live your truth and just documenting my process and document everything i'm going through to hopefully once again people can find some value in the content so once again at illuminati iron on Instagram that's where

i'm best available and really appreciate everyone for listening where does that come from by the way illuminati iron so i basically there's a little story behind that i was on deployment my second deployment getting prepared basically to get out of the military in a year a year and a half from once i got back and so brainstorming you know my business and kind of my message or Motto basically illuminati like we talked about earlier in terms of having that influence positive influence over other people by leading through example doesn't matter how much money you have

doesn't matter your name where you come from ultimately everyone can have an impact and by you taking care of yourself it has that influence or basically mainstream wave of people feeding off of the good vibes Your work everything you're putting into yourself and hopefully that positivity through time can compound i love it thank you for being here man appreciate you brother thank you so much