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March 7, 2026

“Fighter Pilot Intensity” turned into something a 45-year-old dad can use on a Tuesday - 85

In this episode of Driven For Health, we delve into the essential aspects of enhancing both health and business performance for business owners, entrepreneurs, and driven men.

Discover how integrating fitness into your daily routine can boost mental performance, focus, and productivity.

Key highlights include:

Fitness-Performance Synergy: Learn how physical activity drives mental performance.
Cognitive Benefits of High-Intensity Training: Understand how it builds brain connections and improves learning.
Stress Management through Task Management: Techniques to improve recall and performance under pressure.
Integrating Fitness into Family Life: Make fitness a family activity with home gym concepts.
Kids Observing and Learning: Children learn positive behaviors by watching parents work out.
Preparation and Planning: The foundation of success through planning, practice, and perseverance.
Legacy of Discipline and Preparation: How these contribute to sustained health and business performance.

Join us for practical insights and real-life examples that will inspire you to enhance your fitness, nutrition, and overall well-being while excelling in your professional life.

Where to find Swingsesh:

https://www.swingsesh.com/

Instagram: @teamswingsesh

The Call To Rise is a 100-day Fat Loss Transformation Experience designed for driven men ready to get back to a healthy body, boost their energy, and lead as a powerful man. If you are struggling with some form of chronic illness such as high blood pressure, cholesterol or even Type 2 Diabetes - this program is designed for you too. Through a proven system of strength training, personalized nutrition, and radical accountability, you’ll drop 20–30 pounds and rebuild confidence from the inside out and even improve chronic illness issues. It’s more than a fitness program, it’s an body transformation experience with a Brotherhood of like-minded men committed to showing up, leveling up, and leading in a body they are excited about. This is your wake-up call to rise. www.thecalltorise.com

Want help applying this to your own health, weight, energy, or lab numbers?

Coach Brian Parana offers Health Hot Seat coaching segments for men who want a clear next step with nutrition, fitness, weight loss, blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, or daily consistency.

Learn more about The Call To Rise, a 100-day coaching program for driven men over 40 who want to lose weight, improve their health, and rebuild confidence:

www.thecalltorise.com

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brian@brianparana.com

Disclaimer: This podcast is for education and coaching support only. It is not medical advice. Always work with your physician before changing medication, treatment, or medical care.

Today I'm bringing you fighter pilot intensity turned into something a 45-year-old dad can use on a Wednesday. Two powerful things in this episode of Driven for Health number 85 with coach Brian Brana and Brad Leman. We're jumping into these two powerful hooks and phrases that Brad mentioned to me that I thought were impactful, especially being a father of four.
is the first one being what if I told you that your kids are 80% likely to become the adult that you are now not the adult that you want them to be. And the second powerful phrase that he said because he's got kids too. We'll talk about that. What if you learn that you set your child's inner monologue for life? Pow. Wham. That is big.
and Brad, welcome to the show. Let's jump in. Let's talk about those two things, where they came from and why they are so powerful. >> Yeah, thanks for having me, Brian. I appreciate it. >> I was kind of blown away with that uh same feeling, you know, just thinking of all the things that you tell your children that maybe you would have liked to have fixed yourself.
And so, you're trying to help fix it in them, but just the fact that it's up to you. like you have to do you have to make the change and then they will carry that change forward. So that was um a pretty impactful thing from you know my perspective and just how I wanted to be a dad. And the second one was that soundtrack that you have in your head if you think about the things that your parents said to you as a kid.
I think as parents, we don't often think that we're setting that recording, if you will, um that inner inner monologue, but it is happening. And when you start treating it that way, it can change the mindset, the way that you parent or maybe even the way that you coach or the way that you uh interact.
So, um yeah, it was those were two powerful statements that I've uh really taken forward in in my parenting. >> That's excellent. And you're a husband, a father. or what were the kids ages? >> Yeah, so I've got three kids, uh, seven, five, and two. So, we're >> we're busy right now. >> 16 to 10, three boys and girl over here. I know the feeling, the all that stuff.
The funny thing is, you're one of a couple guests now that I've been bringing on. You've got the lowest amount of kids of all the guests is three. A lot of guys have four, which is it's just so funny because I'm I'm finding these gentlemen that resonate with our conversation and we all have multiple kids and understand the challenges that men are facing in their 40s. You're feeling it, I'm feeling.
How do we juggle all of these things? And your history and your background is what caught my attention. It's like, oh, it would be pretty cool to talk to jet fighter pilot and and have him on to to share. And then we also talk about your swing sesh, your playground company, and how that came to fruition and why it's such handinand for being a an active father that wants to still work out.
And what we'll talk about that because I I love that idea as well. >> Absolutely. >> The the mindset that we're diving in is creating this. It separates the best from the best. when you were in in the Marines, you were in the top percentage of people, right? Because they don't just bring everyone in to fly jets, right? But then even in there, there's still a a big difference between the the best of the best to the the bottom of the best in a sense.
So, I'd love to explore that. So let's talk about some of the your military why you wanted to be a fighter pilot and and kind of go along this line is and and definitely around like that binary culture those things were really interesting. >> Yeah. So I think u kind of speaking on the binary culture piece because that's sort of the indoctrination to the military at least in the Marine Corps.
It's very, it's not shocking per se because you realize it when you go in, but it is, >> it's brutal in a sense of it's black and white. You did it or you didn't do it. There's no measure of your potential. Nobody's uh coddling you or holding you. It is did or done. The would a, could, shoulda is all behind you.
And so that is a is kind of a brutal wakeup for um you know guys like myself that I had a lot of potential but I wasn't always tapping into it all the time. And so it was really like a okay it's you got to turn it on, you got to leave it on and you may actually have to figure out how to increase what on is in order to keep up.
And that was a really cool uh experience just as as I was going through. So, and then you kind of talked about the the top 1%. >> Yeah. You you rise to the cream of the crop, right? And you rise to your surroundings. Your environment plays a significant importance on who you are, what you think, what you what your actions are, the way you speak, the way you think.
And that's something that's really important is always don't be the smartest person in the room. Look for other rooms to get into to be able to do that. And again, you're in an elite level for this that specific field uh in there, >> right? You you show up to your first uh fighter squadron and you feel like you've accomplished something and then uh you walk into the room and they remind you that you absolutely know nothing in comparison to the guys that are uh that have been there for the three years or the six years or however long they've been there. So as a new guy
walking in you realize man I am starting all over brand new and uh I don't know anything and now it's that whole process again of you're at the bottom you got to start learning how do you learn faster how do you iterate quicker and you know solve problems to be the guy that people then go to as a helpful person in the squadron.
So it took me a while to get my feet under me. Um you know I'll freely admit it. you know, I was the I was not the best and it took me a long time to get to the point where uh I was really good. Uh but it was through the love of learning and sort of not being afraid of failing. Um that kind of gets you there.
Uh you just don't quit. You keep going. Uh whatever it is, you just uh put your head down and press. Uh and then like you said, the smartest guy in the room, you find him, you figure out what they're doing, you study them, and uh kind of map that out. So yeah, it's it's it's been an awesome experience and you know, happy to share it any way I can to help other folks um you know, learn from it.
>> Yeah, definitely. What were some key aspects that allowed you to elevate even more? Was it finding another person? Was it that analysis of their movements, their behaviors? What allowed you to level up? Yeah, absolutely. I think um it's kind of three-fold, right? Anybody can uh learn to study, but you have to learn to do it efficiently.
Um that is a huge part of the job is just studying vast amounts of material and learning it. So, initially my habits for that uh weren't great. I didn't have like a process for it. So, I developed that and that's what helped me later. the physical aspects of it. I was kind of middle of the road in terms of my physical fitness.
I wasn't great. I wasn't terrible, maybe slightly above average, but not, you know, phenomenal in the squadron. And I realized that the dudes that were the greatest in the squadron were also, you know, elite performers in in physicality typically or at least above me. And what I realized was that actually plays pretty heavily into your performance.
when you're trying to push your body and your mind to the max, um, you really have to learn to kind of go through the recovery cycles. And then how do you release some of that anxiety and how do you increase your, you know, your own recovery from the mental stress and you do that through physical stress. It's kind of a wild process, but once you get it down, you realize that um, the physical makes the mental easier.
And when you start combining all of that, you add nutrition in on top of it, and now you can really start performing at, you know, 95 to 100% regularly and routinely. >> Totally. When you're in the thick of a hard workout, I I've done many. I used to own CrossFit gyms and those are some pretty challenging workouts.
But you're in there and you're just thinking about the next rep, working through the tough, through the hard, the challenge that you're experiencing there. What that does is it allows you to mentally process and sit in the pain, the discomfort, the challenge that there is. And so many times in life, we want to run from that.
But it's actually builds us up. It builds that character. It builds that discipline or that willpower or the overcoming of whatever that challenge is to push and accomplish it. And if you can do hard there, then you can do hard in other places as well. At the very least, you can study, right? >> Big difference of actually flying a plane is a little bit different.
You definitely need some skill sets to still get yourself up in the air in a multi-million dollar machine. >> At the very least, we can take this do the hard here and it translates into other areas of life to be able to do hard. >> Yeah, absolutely. And what I didn't realize at the time is there's there is a lot of science behind it showing why that it works.
Um and and I didn't learn that until after the fact with swing sesh as we were just kind of doing research on children and understanding how fitness plays a role in development. Um you know from everywhere from uh gross motor control, defined motor control into sort of your arithmetic and you know mathematics sort of your stem level of uh understanding.
It all plays a role and the thing that shocked me the most was that highintensity effort in exercise uh helps you build uh brain connections and then that can directly translate into both an ability to learn like the plastic plasticity of the brain u I'm not the expert in this field so don't try to take it as that but just it's these are interesting things that I've learned along the way >> just the fact that you can now study more effectively because you have exercised it's a wild phenomenon didn't know about it I employed it unintentionally. Um, and it was it
worked great for me. I knew that, but I didn't understand like the the background behind it. And now that I do, it's, you know, we talk about it much more um than I had before, just kind of not fully appreciating that link. So, it's pretty pretty cool experience. >> I uh thousand% agree with you. I've heard of that as well.
The studies on you do a hard exercise and it actually improves your cognitive abilities to learn, to remember, to recall. And ultimately, that's all that learning is is your ability to recall information quickly. >> Yeah. >> If you're can enhance yourself and get an edge in a sense on that by leveraging that little nuance of information, then you sure should.
So anyone out here, if you work out before you listen to a Driven for Health podcast, you're going to learn a lot more. >> Exactly. There you go. >> Yeah. Well, and I I think from just a daily stress interaction, right? Like in anyone's job, you're trying to manage tasks. You know, >> as an entrepreneur, I call them the plates.
You know, we're trying to spin the 25 plates to keep the business moving. And you can't always do it perfectly, but I can spin more plates effectively when I am recalling things faster, when I am uh well-rested, and I am performing at my max. So, um there's it's such a a huge tool that a lot of people I I think don't employ adequately to really relieve uh what could be relieved in their in their daily stressful lives.
>> Yeah. I'm going to ask for a personal story right now. a time in your jet fighter pilot experience where you felt like you were crashing and burning but were able to you do maverick and pull on the the things and rise up above the challenges. Do you recall a specific time where you were able to take all of the knowledge, all of the training, all of the the mindset piece, that aviation mindset, and be able to overcome some challenges because you had to have had some >> Oh, yeah. I mean there's there's many
many stories along the way that I can think of that kind of apply that you know from an you know engine failures on takeoff to critical hydraulic failures during landing you know times when you know even in my test pilot tour there was a time when you know I failed at a critical step uh in the checklist just literally missed the checklist step it's like pilot basics right but I working with the control room.
We were doing some things that were slightly non-standard. And because of that, I got out of my habit pattern and I didn't do one of the most basic steps. I tried to take off and during the takeoff almost ran off the side of the ship. You know, just really scary type of events that are, you know, they're almost life-changing.
>> That would be life-changing. Put a put a plane in the ocean. Yeah, the the reality of a lot of it is it's not the moment, but it's how you crawl back into the jet after those events that are really the sort of the trick of the trade, if you will. >> Right. >> Getting behind a jet is easy to do. And the better you get at it, the more tasks that you're managing while, >> right, >> piloting, if you will, piloting becomes sort of an administrative task.
And now it's like battlefield management or mission level management. Um, but they can start falling apart and when they do, when the cookie starts to crumble, it's like you're picking up the house of cards and, you know, trying to juggle it. But one thing that I always remember is, you know, if you can predict yourself in the future where you need to be to be successful, do anything that you can to get to that point >> and like chuck tasks out the window if you have to.
it doesn't matter, but get to that point because now if you if you have built a point for betterment, you're prepped and ready and you can kind of pick up with uh where you are or uh what's going on. And I've leaned on that uh quite a bit. >> And then also it's, you know, bred into you as a young guy, but it's no fast hands in the cockpit.
So it's easy to let the adrenaline spike cause rapid decision- making that isn't necessarily getting you anywhere. So control that adrenaline spike and now ride it. Let it make you more cognitively sound, but look, listen, feel, and then make a decision. So I think yeah, there's so many little nuances of all this that you learn over the years, but I think that's a good uh kind of top level starting point.
>> Yeah, that's excellent. I have a training in my toolbox in a sense for coaching that I picked up years ago, but it's called your happy place. And when things are spiraling out of control, we need a place to pause, rest, reset, refocus, and you go to your happy place. It could be literal or figurative.
And you have to go back to be able to get resourceful to come back to then find the answers that you need in that situation. Uh, so that's exactly what you're saying and I constantly cause people to pause, think, take a breath and then let's assess what happens next. Quick question. How fast does a jet go? >> Uh, really fast.
>> Yeah. Technical term, right? >> Yeah. I mean, you're going, you know, one and a half times the speed of sound. I mean, that's, you know, not uncommon. So, you're you're moving. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yep. So decisions and the processing and the the mental faculty has to be there and it almost has to be just reiterated into your body into your DNA in a sense.
There was this reel that I had watched and it it totally stopped me in my tracks. It was the Blue Angels going through an inconference room. So, >> just in the the meeting room going through running the scenario, they were I'm getting chills to think about it. They were so my oldest would say they were so locked in.
I believe I would say that they were eyes closed. Their hands were on the gears and they were totally in the moment. All of them going through the checklist of the thing. So the the head leader is is going through and calling out the things and everyone's moving and acting and doing the thing that they need to do in that sequence of time and energy.
And it's you probably could find if you just search on Instagram, even just Google it, Blue Angels uh warm-up uh or something like that. Uh it was incredible. and the amount of preparation that people don't realize that has to go into this stuff even for our episode. We had a little bit of a technical difficulty last time and so we've already prepared over 90 minutes of time for this episode to show up.
We we talked about what we were going to do in our pre-in. We had our technical difficulty yesterday and then we came back ready to go today regardless of whatever that challenge was. And it obviously just a simple tech issue. It couldn't get the speakers to work. But still there's some resilience and some some overcoming obstacles that we have to do.
>> Absolutely. >> Day-to-day life. >> Yeah. Preparation. I I often brief my young people that I'm either mentoring or coaching whatever. You know what you really want are preparation and opportunity to cross. What you don't want is for opportunity to cross and you weren't prepared, >> right? But luck can only enhance that preparation, right? >> And what you don't want, and I think the Marine Corps kind of breathes this into you as well.
You know, you brief in detail now. The Blue Angels are an exception. You know, it's purely >> a show of what they're doing, right? Um, it's not the mission level aspects of what is, you know, fighter pilotry, if you will, the craft that that that folks do, >> but the amount of study and knowledge and detail that goes into every one of those flights is massive. And it's really cool.
Um, you know, to see how all of that works. Uh, and that when you put in that level of preparation and expertise and dedication to the craft, that's when you start seeing those next level of results, right? Because you were prepared and guess what? An opportunity presented itself and now you can do it and move on to the next level.
>> Uh, but often people look at that opportunity and they're like, "Well, h man, it's pretty hard." You know, and people often say that to me. They're like, "Man, I do anything to to be a fighter pilot." And my first question is, "Well, did you?" >> And the reality is that the difference between me and everybody else is so small. It's there is no difference.
Really what it boils down to is >> the And that's you'd ask me about >> block per se that you became fighter pilot. >> I just nobody told me no along the way, which is one key element. And I put one foot in front of the other in that direction. Even if someone said no, you're stubborn enough to just keep showing up anyways, right? >> Yeah.
And that's that's a true statement. Um >> yeah, it's it's make sure that you're prepared for it. >> This takes me to one of I think literally my favorite movies, >> Top Gun 2. Maverick is preparing them for that impossible mission to be able to infiltrate that base and all that the sequencing of it. Did you like Top Gun one or two better? Which we'll go a little off topic here.
Which one was better for you? >> In all honesty, I haven't watched Top Gun. >> Are you serious? >> I know I'm a terrible person. Come. Oh, yeah. I I'm unfortunately I'd have to say yes. I would agree with you on that statement. Yeah, I know. And you think I should have I wanted to at the time and then I don't know why.
We just were busy and then I was like, well, maybe we'll do it with the kids and we'll watch the first one and the second one and it just it hasn't happened yet. So, I need to put that on my list of things to do. I do want to watch it. I have nothing against it. I just >> hadn't I never I haven't done it yet. I know. Terrible. >> Unfortunately, one could agree with you on that statement.
That's your homework leaving this podcast is watch Top Gun 2 and then you can tell me how good it is to report back how much you said, "Wow, I should have watched this early." It's legit. It's really good. They did an amazing job with that sequel. Far better than number one. Number one's legendary, but two definitely carries the story line.
And >> yeah, and I remember hearing about folks, you know, doing it at the time. and we were talking about, you know, um the guys that got the opportunity to do it and Tom Cruz was out doing the shoot and stuff like that. So, it was happening, you know, in my element at the time, but I just, you know, I don't know.
>> I'll fix myself. I apologize. >> Yeah. Yeah. The rest of this week, that's your homework. But the the point being is that there is a significant amount of planning, amount of preparation, and if you want to be successful in life, you have to do that. There's a reason why I've been doing my career for 23 years.
I live, eat, and sleep. This thing you ask anyone around me is something that I constantly think about. I'm assessing, I'm learning, I'm tweaking, I'm adjusting. I am I got my pokers in in five different fires in a sense. Whether it's good or bad because of say doing too much is neither here nor there.
you're going to if you're an entrepreneur because you have to juggle too many things like keeping the the bills paid or this thing happens and then this thing has to happen all of a sudden you're like oh I guess I'm going to be up a little bit later than I want to and and that's what it is but that's the that's the reason why I have had longevity being a health coach I'm not just oh co turned me from a personal trainer into this thing no I've been doing it long before that uh from 2002 is where my exercise career started And it's just been me stubbornly showing up
and trying to help the person in front of me to overcome and get them to better be prepared and better plan and and always focus on the inputs that they have control over to get to the outputs which is the outcome that everyone wants, right? To make more money, to be famous, to to what? be loved, to be cheered, to have a happy life, whatever that is for you that there has to be this level.
Even this is our 85th episode in under 190 days. Uh, no, actually 170 days or something like that. I'm full go blitz mode on my podcast to get it out and release and start creating opportunity so that when luck and opportunity cross, Brian has talked to a significant amount of people and has a significant amount of experience should be able to leverage into those experiences and create more opportunity, right? And that's just even why we're talking today.
>> Yeah. >> So that's awesome. All right, jet fighter pilot phase starting to wrap up, moving into the reality of day-to-day life. Let's talk about that transition. And this is where the guys listening in. We are our ideal target audience. In a sense, you're talking to an out of shape, overweight Brad that's overwhelmed with life in a sense.
Still got things going on, but his belly is a little bigger than it once was. So, what what's been this transition for you and how long you've been out and and talk let's talk about that for a little bit. >> Yeah. So, uh I've only been out um not even six months yet. So, >> you're fresh. >> Fresh out. >> Uh we've been doing Swing Sesh kind of as a side to full business to rapidly scaling business uh over the past five years.
And then it was just kind of recent that, you know, we decided to really go after it full-time with, you know, uh, everything just because it the opportunity is here. And once again, we're not going to, you don't want to miss that. And it the having a great product and the the feeling that goes along with helping the people and the betterment is a really cool thing.
So, I never thought I'd be in that position. Never thought I'd be making playets, but, you know, it's it's turned into a great uh, opportunity for us. Um, and I do feel like we're bringing really good to the world, if that makes sense. >> Oh, totally, totally. Connecting >> fitness and day-to-day life. >> So, yeah.
What What about you? We'll talk about swing sess for sure. So, what he's saying is that he's he has this the ultimate man's playset, but for kids, it's it's it's really for the adults. So, your kids can do the swing and then you're doing a workout and it's wonderful. And I remember we had a swing set. I I drilled a pipe. I got some piping and made a pull-up bar and that that became part of it.
And then I also did a wall ball target. I I I put a wood thing that I screwed up about 10 feet up because that's crossed standard and and I'm tossing the ball and stuff in my backyard while my kids are playing. >> But uh >> so yeah, we'll talk about that. But yeah, life life life. How is this how is transitioning into the day-to-day? How to taking what you've learned and experience into dad life in a sense? >> Yeah.
So, I guess the the whole the reason I kind of got into that part of the story was it was my wife pregnant with our daughter and you know, I was realizing that life was going to change and that we were going to be busy and you know, how was that going to kind of manifest itself? I wanted to be present as a dad and being in the Marine Corps and being present are hard to balance and I was trying to think of what hours of the day are some that I could easily steal um and get back home um you know to help support the wife and and be a part of the family. And it hit me like
the gym is the easy I mean that is so easy to bring home. And uh at first it was like, well, I could just build a home gym and now I have my daughter with me and then I'm like, well, what's she gonna do in the gym? You know, like is this how's this gonna work? And then or does it turn into I'm just at home by myself working out while she's upstairs, you know, with the baby, >> which I was like, man, >> it could end up being just as bad as it is now with the expenditure of um a home gym. And I was like, well, what if they
were watching and seeing all of that like like the intensity that you're bringing, they could be learning that like a sponge, like while you're uh executing what you need to do for yourself. And then how does how would that work? And when it hit me, it was just like a ton of bricks. It was like, what what about having a power rack, you know, blend it in to your playset so that they're watching you while they're playing, you're playing while you're working out.
Uh, and you marry this, it brings you back down to a play level, which is what you need as an adult. Like you need to remember just to play >> positive fun experience to exercise. >> Yeah. And then from their perspective, they're learning that play is in fact fitness and the hard work that you have to do and that learning process of fighting hard into an achievement, if that makes any sense.
Um, and so was that was really for me like kind of the tipping point of I wanted to bring that positivity home, that effort home and show them. And so that turned into uh kind of the entrepreneurial piece. I briefed the wife up. I'm like, "Hey, what do you think? Is this crazy? Am I am I crazy?" And she's like, "Well, of all the crazy ideas you've had, this one is actually pretty good.
" So, >> yeah. >> And that's what led us to where we're at today. >> That's that's excellent. And for me, I actually worked out with my oldest yesterday and we I can get my So that's Levi and then Everett. I can get Everett to work out with me. >> Maxwell in February or January, he said, "Let's work out.
" And then that quickly faded. So we worked out together a couple times, but it quickly faded. We we would watch, oddly enough, we were watching James Bond while we were working out in the barn, but he was doing this workout. This is a full body circuit in a sense where we just do a a chest and a leg and a shoulder and a leg and a back and and abs and and all and he'd go through that.
He told him to name it. He named the workout Chimmy Chunga. It's like, "Okay, man." Then we wrote it on the board and it's the Chimmy Chunga workout. So, he goes through it three times, but I have not been able to get him back out. But but we and then my daughter likes to play floors lava out in the barn while we work out.
So she's just climbing all over things trying to not touch ground. >> But it took me basically until the last year or so to finally get them to work out with me. And it wasn't a a push, it was a pull in a sense. And I had to wait for them to be ready, willing, and able and want to do it so that it was actually fun and enjoyable. >> Yeah.
connection time for us and and my oldest Levi, he brought his buddy Mike over and we worked out and and it was a lot of fun. We we did some back biceps and some abs >> and just laughed and had a good time. So >> yeah, and they learned so much through that. They learn, you know, they whether they're doing it with you or not, they are observing well beyond what you even know.
And I think that's kind of a a powerful thing, at least that I've noticed through swing sesh is my daughter will be sitting in the swing, what appears to be completely non-observant, and then out of the blue, she's like, "Daddy, why do you breathe like that?" And you're like, "Well, yep, I'm bracing my core, you know, I'm exhaling at the appropriate time, and that's what's, you know, needed for this type of lift.
" And she's like, "Okay, cool. I like the clouds." You're like, "Okay, great." And and it's it's a great experience, but you realize how much they're picking up of all the subtle things that are going on. It provides an environment that they can interact with you freely at like their convenience, >> right? >> But you're there and ready and and waiting and it's pretty cool.
>> Yep. And just facilitating that opportunity to grow exercise is a good thing. Brad, I know people are going to ask this, but so you're doing your squats and your presses and all, but then your your daughter, your son comes up and wants to play tag for five minutes. It's going to ruin your workout.
What the heck do you do then? >> I'm joking. >> And that's, you know, it is a it's a I think that's a misconception, right? Like, >> yeah, >> for 90% of us, we're not operating in the going to the Olympics, right? like I will never go to the Olympics in a physical sport. I'm beyond those years. I was never good enough. And that's fine.
And I think what often everybody and I'm saying everybody calling it the normal column of folks the for 99% of us normal folks out there you should skip the workout and play tag and then come back to it because the benefit that you gain from the interaction the benefit that they gain from that experience with you >> the little bit of happiness that you get has zero impact on your actual physical capability in in life.
Uh, but the impact that it has on your kids and the positivity that you're bringing back to yourself from just remembering how to play is way more powerful and it'll get you in the backyard more, which leads to more workouts, which leads to, you know, more uh bits and pieces that stack up over time. >> Yeah.
And that's all it all is is just building that momentum, building that consistency. And if your squat goes from a 60-second rest to five minutes cuz you you were chasing the little one around, who cares? We're good. >> Yeah. And I go back to, you know, like a lot of folks are are taking lots of supplements, right? There's some good supplements out there that you could take. There's a few.
>> The reality is like the percent improvement that you're looking at is like >> 1 to 3%, right? And that's like up in those upper echelons where it would really start to matter. For >> once again, 99% of the normal folks, you can gain, you know, fives and 10% by just continually stacking small workouts. Nothing crazy.
>> Progressive overload over time, >> right? You just simple effective workouts done repeatably indefinitely forever and you will gain massive amounts. But it's over time and I think that's where uh a lot of folks they really struggle with is stacking it over time. >> Very much so. Yeah. People ask me about what's the best supplement this that or the other and I'll ask do you know how many calories you're eating or how many grams of protein you're eating or any like well no I'm like why are you spending like $40 to $100 on supplements
that you don't necessarily know the efficacy or the ability of them actually working for you? There's a couple like protein powder, fish oil, multivitamin, >> creatine. Those four definitely work. >> But then after that, you why are we buying beta alanine or Lcarnitine or whatever else? Because the the muscle bands on the front of it and they're heavily marketing it to you.
And then they give you the the three times volume container with this much powder in it. Yeah, >> let's skip that and just get back to fundamentals. >> Are you supplementing your workout? >> I mean, that's the like if the answer is you're not supplementing your workout, then you probably, you know, you don't need to supplement your body yet, right? You're not achieving the point at which you can really even take advantage of those things.
So, anyway, that's a a digression there, but yeah, it's just really focusing on those basics over time and providing folks a way to stack up that time to to make it more valuable. Yeah, totally. That's excellent. Now, what is the most common attachment to the swing sesh that people get? >> Uh, probably rope climbs and J cups. I mean, those are like just, you know, basics, >> right? >> This year it's been a lot of the obstacle course and ninja, >> okay, >> aspects, you know, people trying to do that with their kids.
And that's a really cool you can get a workout just, you know, monkey bars are humbling. Um, and there's a thousand ways to use them. And, and if you're even if you're very upper body and >> back centric already, um, you know, do a pull-up every monkey bar and then go back and forth as many times as you can. Like, you will reach a point of failure pretty quick.
>> Yes. Yes. >> You know, maybe if you're a Dave Gogggins type copy, you're not uh going to, but for the rest of us, once again, in that normal bracket, it's a really good exercise. So, >> Right. He's just not gonna fall. >> Yeah. Oh, goodness. All right, that's that's awesome. And that's certainly at your website.
We'll have that stuff linked below. Uh, not a problem. It's pretty cool setup of it on. And there's a little quiz of what you want when you get onto the website to click through and have >> put all the fun attachments on and such. Yeah. >> To to customize it to your abilities and all. It's it's very cool setup. And uh, man, I wish I would have thought of that, huh? Very very cool.
>> It's just one of those products that you know do you need it? Absolutely not. You can do lots of things without body weight or you know whatever and be effective. But it is a great way if you are looking for that type of exercise to interact with your kids in a way that you may not have that opportunity may not have presented itself.
So now you're taking that discipline that you're using in the gym, that hard work, and you're showing it right in front of them. And it's just it's wildly impactful. You're that 80% that we talked about at the beginning is now right squarely in front of them. >> And then on the days where you're struggling, guess who's going to ask you, "Daddy, do you want to go do pull-ups?" >> And you better believe it that you're going out and doing at least one pull-up.
Like you're not getting out of it. And you know, mentally that's a it's a great thing because then you end up stacking up those little uh bits of workout, you become more consistent and it really it it helps overall, >> right? And usually it just takes you doing one or two and then okay, you get past that little hump of >> lack of motivation or whatever energy, right? >> And then off you go to the races.
So very very cool. I think that's the undertone of our our conversation here is that yes, we have we do hard things whether you being a a jet fighter pilot to someone else just working a sales gig or a business owner or whatever situation that they're in. They have their job, they have a family, they likely have kids, and then they have their health.
And we need to make sure that the health aspect is tied into all of this. The preparation, the planning, the doing hard things, the pushing yourself past the challenges that come up every single day to overcome them to create that that look, the feel, the body that you want. Know that most guys, they want their their kids to embody them, to to have that.
For me, I want a legacy that my kids know and understand me as being a healthy, fit individual that always took care of himself and those around him. >> Yeah. >> And this is a huge way to do that. >> I tell everybody that I get a chance to mentor, like there is, you know, in DNA, if you look at everybody across the spectrum, we're all within like 0.
01% of each other or something silly like that. It's we are very very very similar. So there's >> yeah, >> there's no excuse in that sense. The reality is you can do anything you want. You just have to commit to it. Start taking the small steps. Learn to love the process and be ready to pivot. But just keep executing as you go.
Like failure is fine. You know, you can fail. You can go outside and not complete a workout. That's okay. It's what you do next that really defines you. Can you go out the next day? Can you make that hard choice and pick up and continue to go on? on it. If you can do that, you're going to be successful at almost anything you put forward.
So, trailing back to that inner monologue, you know, I harp on that with my kids. It's like, I don't care if you fail. Like, that's okay. But it's what we do after that. It's that learning, like learning to love that hard feeling that is learning and moving forward and pressing. Um, and if you can learn to love that, like there's nothing that's going to stop you.
>> Yeah, that's excellent. I love it. We'll wrap on that. So good. Because I was gonna ask you, what's a good ending point? That's That's exactly it. You landed the plane, so to speak. >> All right. Sorry. We're good. >> Hopefully it was smooth. I didn't even notice. >> Totally was. Yeah, you were right in flow. I love it.
Now, where do we find Swing Sesh? Is it It's swing sash.com. >> Yeah, swing sash.com. Or you can uh hook up hook up with us on Instagram, team swings. That's our most prominent. Uh we're swinging sesh on Facebook, but I'd say most prominent on uh on Instagram. So >> yeah, definitely. And you can see some of the cool setups of different things.
And yes, people, you can work out when it's hot and when it's cold outside or even when it's snowing, it's fine. >> You get out there and you'll actually be surprised at how >> liberating it is to work out in 30 degrees. Like, wait a minute, I'm not I don't really sweat. >> Yeah.
It's it's wild because and I we joke about it. My wife and I joke about it quite often is that so many people don't know how to deal with the environment that they live in. You literally live in this environment and you choose not to or you pretend that it's hard. Guess who hears that? >> Your kids hear that. So you will never hear me saying like, "Oh, it's too cold to go out. I'm not going to go outside.
" Nope. I will never say that. I will just go outside and put a coat on because I don't want my kids to have that same >> hesitation. There's no It doesn't really make any sense. It's not life-threatening or nonsafe. So, >> throw your coat on, throw your gloves on, let's go outside and lift some weights.
And I think that's another unique thing that swing sesh brings is that >> I have no there's no pretense that it might be nice like a garage gym or like a gym at, you know, >> right at a boutique, >> going to sit in this facility or anything like that. Yeah. >> Right. I know as soon as I break the threshold of the door what it's like. And that hard choice in and of itself is very powerful tool um that you can use in so many aspects of your life is just making that choice like I'm going to go do this and that's that is a fact of life.
>> So >> very much so I I drugged my kids out to in a a good way to go sudden when it was zero to 10 degrees out. might, you know, it's cold when my chin hair gets feels this like, oh, it's pretty cold out here. But we're going to be out there for 30, 45 minutes playing in the snow. >> Going out there and getting experiencing the the snow, the cold, the the all of that opportunity there.
It doesn't matter. If it was minus 20, then yeah, probably wouldn't go outside because that's very cold. >> Yeah. You start getting into a safety thing. That's a different scenario. >> Yeah, different scenario. But it's it's one of those like I just want my kids to understand where those limits are and not be artificially limited.
Like >> exactly. >> So many people in life, they have these preconceived notions of what limits are >> and they're that is their own personal restriction and they've built a box that's way smaller than their actual capacity to to go and do and achieve. >> Um they're like, "Well, I don't I don't think I'm suited for that.
" Like, >> by what? Well, I don't have a degree. Can you learn? Yes. Well, okay. There's a school of hard knocks and it is teaching lessons constantly. Like, go graduate. You can go get a degree, too, if that's if you feel like that would empower you more, then go do that. Go achieve that, >> right? >> But yeah, it's >> it's just so wildly powerful what you can do with making choices that are positive and uh avoiding the no monster.
>> Yes. Yes. Yep. Well, excellent, Brad. Thanks so much for joining me on Driven for Health today. I really appreciate our conversation and bringing some really a different perspective from being a a jet fighter pilot. It's pretty cool to say out loud and to have you here and just that that that lifestyle and all.
And I I love all the concepts that you brought to the conversation. Hope that anyone listening in has to go do hard things. I I think that's both of what we just told you to do. Go do hard things. plan and prepare to be able to push through the challenging situations. Oh, you you're bored today. Oh, it's okay to be bored.
You don't have to stare at a phone. You can get uncomfortable. You can go outside when it's cold out. It's fine. You'll be you'll survive. I promise. >> Well, thank you so much. This is episode 85, Dream for Health. Thank you for joining. Off we go. >> Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it. It's been awesome. Yep. Hang on there.