When Pigs Fly: Resilience, Dream Achievement, And Pursuing Passion

Today, I reconnect with coach, speaker, and author Martin Pigg, whose incredible life journey embodies resilience, passion, and purpose. From recovering after a devastating injury to embracing competitive bodybuilding in his 50s, Mr. Pigg shares how fitness became a form of therapy and a tribute to his mother. His story highlights how the gym, once a birthday gift from his mom, became a sacred space of healing and growth.

The conversation dives into Mr. Pigg's transformation from a prison guard to a six-figure sales manager, and ultimately to his dream life as a personal development coach, pilot, and author. Mr. Pigg then breaks down his signature concept—The PIGG Principle—which stands for Passion, Intention, Gratitude, and Grace. He discusses how pursuing your passion with clear intent can uncover your life’s purpose and radically change your trajectory, sharing that it's never too late to go after your dreams, regardless of age or past hardship.

https://www.martinpigg.com/

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Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and this episode has been a long time coming, you know, months ago I had drove about four and a half, five hours to Orlando for a, it was only about two hours podcasting event, uh, courtesy of Buzz Brown podcast movement to connect Orlando podcasters.

And I then drove five hours home. So it was a long day. But well worth it. One of those connections I have here today, Mr. Martin Pig. You know, I, it's funny,  he and I met in the parking garage. I saw him. And I was asking him about, you know, where we were parking or something. And I, I went to say, I'm here for a podcasting event.

'cause I wanted to try and like sneakily see if he was here for the same event. But I ended up not doing it. And then inside the event I saw him, I said, I knew, I knew he was a podcaster. I just, I, I could sense it. I, I, I had that connection like, you know. I, I knew he was a podcast, so I regret not doing that.

But we connected and, you know, before I could invite him onto the show, he ended up getting a pretty sustaining, a pretty bad injury, which, uh, he went through that whole recovery, you know, and it's all on his social media, which we'll have below. But yeah, Mr. Martin Pig here recovered from that stronger than before here to talk about resilience, about physical fitness, about mental health.

We're gonna have a great conversation today.  I'm excited. Let's go.  Yeah, so I'll, I'll start by explaining for anyone watching, the flying pigs behind me, wallpaper, for those of you listening, I've got a, an army of flying pigs behind me. I've got my, uh, pink salmon, color, whatever you wanna call it, tank top on with the, the shoulders out, because like I said, we're gonna be talking about physical fitness and obviously Mr.

Pig, that's a huge part of your story. You describe it as you occasionally wear a speedo on stage. Uh, so tell us about your, your bodybuilding, your muscles, and what role that plays in your life currently and as it has over the years.  Well, you know, first of all, I wanna say thank you for having me here with you.

It's great to be here on the podcast. And I, I wanna say something interesting because first of all, you're gonna call me Martin, right? Because you call me Mr. Pig, and I laugh about that because, you know, if I'm on a phone talking to like customer service people or whatever. I'm always waiting. 'cause they're never gonna say, Mr.

Pig, they'll always go Mr. Martin, because nobody can bring themselves to call somebody Mr. Pig. So I, I wanna start by congratulating you, you came out with that, but call me Martin. That's, that's, uh, that's, that's the what, what I like to be called now. The, the bodybuilding thing, um, started, so I lifted  weights,  um, seriously when I was in high school.

And then at 18 I went to college. I. Quit lifting. I quit lifting weights altogether about 20, about 20 years old.  And then when I was 48,  my mom, my mom was living with me at the time, and she gave me a, uh, gym membership for my birthday to get me started lifting weights again.  And like I said, it'd been 28 years.

And I was  in my mid forties, I guess, when I started lifting again. Right. And so she passed in. 2016, about three or four years after I started lifting again.  And so  the losing her, the way I lost her was a very difficult experience. And so what I decided to do, because she had given me this, this bodybuilding, this gym membership, was I was gonna enter a bodybuilding competition to honor her. 

And so I did that. My first show in 2018,  um, I was in my fifties. I don't know what it was. And then I've done 'em ever since. Uh, so I will be, uh, doing one the end of this year. Right. And just, I just fell in love with it and it just is a good way to honor mom and I'll, every time I go in the gym, now I have a sign that I, I look up and give it to mom and thank her for bringing me into the gym.

So, um, the gym has been for a lot of your listeners, I, they probably can relate. It's like therapy for me. You know, I've been through a lot of hard times and always am in the gym to do things. But, uh, you referenced an injury last year and last summer I fell and tore my quadriceps tendon and had surgery and was in a walker and a leg brace for like four months.

And  the, the interesting thing about that was about a week after the injury and the surgery,  um, I just decided, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm gonna enter another competition. I'm not gonna let this stop me.  So I've been going hard at it for the last few months, and then in the December of this year, uh, I'll be back on stage.

So that's kind of my story.  Yeah. You know, it's funny, going back to the, the hesitation around your name all day. I was thinking to myself, I was like, do I really call him that? It, it sounds like a, it is just so commonly associated with an insult, but I said. The man's name is the man's name and he's used to it.

I'm not gonna, you know, but there was some level of embarrassment to it. Like, Hmm, how do, I was like, maybe it's pronounced differently and if it's pronounced differently, I'm gonna look like a jerk. But you know, it's funny because it has no impact on me whatsoever. Because when you grow up with that name and you go into a new school,  it's brutal, man.

I imagine. Yeah. It's like you say, anybody with a funny sounding name, you can't, you know, there's nothing you can say to me. I haven't heard a hundred times, so I'm so comfortable with it. You know, it's, it's fun.  Yeah. I might have to make a, you know, I am a wannabe country singer, so as Johnny Cash had a boy named Sue, I might have a man named Pig.

I have to do it, you know? Uh, so yeah. And you talked about, you mentioned college, and I know you went to prison after college. Could you tell us about that? Well, let's you, you, the way you said it sounded a little bit leading. Let's don't say I went to prison, let's.  Um, I spent four years as a prison guard in, in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

So yes, sir. Yeah. I was not a pig in a penitentiary. I was not a pig pen, but I was, I was, uh, I see what you did there for the guard. Yeah,  yeah. No, I was reading through your website earlier today and it says, I went to prison, and I said, huh? And it says, as an employee, I said, oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. So, so. Yeah.

You talked about, um, going there and like, what, what drew you into that line of work and has that played any, you know, role in shaping your life with what you do nowadays?  Well, when I got outta college in the town that I lived in, uh, the two best paying, paying jobs were as a teacher and as a prison guard. 

Prison guards paid, got paid more than teachers, which is sad to say, but, uh, I just chose the path that got me more money. You know, you're outta college, you're trying to make money, right? Yeah. I'm gonna do this 'cause it pays me more money. That's what it was.  And could you say again, what did you get a degree in?

Uh, my degree is in physical education.  Okay. So you could have gone that teaching route, but like you said, yeah, I just, I wanted to make money.  But to bring it full circle, I mean, you're technically a teacher, un traditionally unconventionally nowadays. Can you tell us about, you know, we, we, we, we've been talking about what you do nowadays without actually sharing it.

Can you tell us what you do?  Okay, so I'm an author, speaker, and coach in the personal development, uh, arena. I've written two books and I'm currently, uh, working out. I'm going on stages and speaking about my message and my, my overall message to people is. That, um,  it's not too late to believe in yourself and go for your dreams regardless of your age, past pain, or current circumstances.

And I've kind of lived all of that. So I feel like I'm kind of an expert when it comes to that because I've, you know, I'm living my dream life now. Uh, I discovered 15 years ago when I quit my job that I wanted to be an author, speaker, and coach. And it took me a while to get to, to that, and I went through a lot of hard times to get to that place.

So I, I figure when I tell people, you know, you can go for your dreams regardless of your age, past pain or current circumstances, I've been through all of that stuff and kept going. So I just try to go, I just go out to the audiences, uh, and, and just give 'em a message of hope and motivation and to let 'em know that, you know, they don't have to settle for the life they're expected to live.

They can, they can create, live the life  they wanna live regardless of where they are in their life.  Yeah. And you talked about quitting. Are you, you know, realizing this after you quit a job 15 years ago? Is that job the prison guard or is this a different job later? No,  I was, I was a sales manager, uh, for 10 years at a company that was, um, was really interesting because  I was at the time. 

I was making six figures. I was doing really well, and one of the things I don't think we've talked about yet is I'm a pilot, right? So imagine if, imagine this situation. So  I discovered that  this helping people, this motivating people was my passion and the thing that I really wanted to do with my life. 

So I'm, you know, I'm making six figures, probably working 15 to 20 hours a week. Because I was really good at what I did. Wow. Flying airplanes all, I'm just flying everywhere. I was living in Baltimore at the time, flying Baltimore to Florida, you know, hanging out with friends, wor making money, working, hardly working at all.

And I just said, you know, I'm gonna follow my dream. I dream is to be an officer, speaker, and coach. And when I quit, my friends thought I was crazy.  They're like, yeah, yeah, of course. Take this much money. You're not barely working and you're flying airplanes all over the place. Why would you quit? It's just when you feel that call, when you have a passion for something, when you feel like it's your purpose in life,  you either li you either listen to that call and you pursue it  or you ignore it and you live a life that's less than what you could have lived if you had pursued your purpose. 

No, it's, it's funny, the episode,  well,  a few episodes of ago at this point, uh, you know, it's. Dr. Alon, Solas, we talked about, he was living on a sailboat, owned a bunch of sailboats, and we rent them out to clients for money. And he was living his dream life on the waterways of France. And he said one day he just had a calling that, you know, he said, I'm a doctor, and he sold everything.

And he, he went to China to learn medicine and, you know, everyone thought he was crazy. And, uh, you know, it was one of those,  you know, it's like,  unless you chase after it, it's, it's not gonna chase after you, you know, you're gonna. Have that calling. Maybe you'll hear it more than once if you don't chase at you right away.

But you know you have to go, you have to be willing to sacrifice to get it. And I remember growing up with my family, you know, there were, now, it was an awful childhood, but there were times where we would all get together and watch television. And one of the shows we would've watched was, America's Got Talent.

And there was a lot of stories of magicians or singers or you know, any of those creative talents. And they talked about how. They were going to, you know, some big university or had this high paying job and they quit it to pursue magic. And I remember my parents were always those doubters that were like, they should have never done that.

You know, this guy quit playing piano at Carnegie Hall to do magic. 'cause his risk could only handle so much magic and piano. You had to choose. I remember my parents were always like.  That traditional, conventional path. And I always argued with them. I and I, I always supported the creative, talented people and here I am as a podcaster.

So you know, obviously that has always been the, you know, the case. And so I just have always been in that mindset. And you know, I think it's like, I could never understand my parents' mindset, but I've always put happiness before money. You know, even like. When I was, you know, talking to women and trying to date, you know, they always asked about like, would I rather choose a higher paying job or something I'm passionate about?

And the answer was always something I'm passionate about, which wasn't always the right answer to them. Uh, so it's, it's interesting. And so what kind of, I mean, you talk about not wanting to live with that feeling of unsatisfaction your whole life, but really.  Did you need some kind of bravery or support to make that decision?

Did you or you just one day said, I quit and I'm gonna do it?  Well, I basically, I quit cold Turkey. I just like, called my, called the boss up and said, you know, I'm done. This is, this is it. I found my, I found what I'm meant to do with my life and I'm gonna do that. Um, so it was just.  I mean, I'm not going to, I'm not going to tell everybody that they should do that.

You know, you need to do what is, you know, comfortable for you. But I was single at the time. I had a little bit of money in the bank, you know, I was, I was doing pretty well, so I had a little bit of a cushion and I just said, let's go for it, you know? Um,  but it was, uh, it was a challenge for a long time.  I, I do wanna go back to say one thing that you kind of.

It caused me to think about something.  Um,  I talk about in speeches that I, that I give, uh, and I talk with my coaching clients 'cause I do coaching one-on-one with people  about the fact that Squire, there's an author, his name is Squire Rush Ne Squire Rushnell  wrote a book called When God Winks. And so it's this idea that God winks  are a, um. 

A, he calls 'em God winks or a seemingly random event that is actually a signpost that can help you successfully navigate your life. It's this inspired thought, you know, we all get these inspired thoughts.  Um, for me, when I, when I decided to become a pilot,  um, I was before that decision, I made that decision.

I was, uh, I was in the Caribbean.  I did parasailing. I don't know if you've done parasailing before, but I did parasailing and when I got home,  the idea, the, the voice in my head said, you should try flying airplanes, because I thought parasailing was really cool, right? Oh, okay. When I, when I, and then the very minute, the very first time I was in an airplane with a friend of mine who was a pilot and he gave me the controls of the aircraft.

As soon as I put my, my hands on the controls I was hooked with, with flying,  and so that was a passion. I have something called the Pig principle and that we got so much we can talk about. But basically the pig principle is when you pursue your passion with intention,  your passion will either become your purpose or lead you to your purpose.

So what happens is you have a passion, which mine was flying.  You pursue that passion with intention, right? It's not just occasionally you do, you are focused on that passion. You love that passion, and you pursue that passion.  When you do that,  that particular passion is going to either become your purpose or it's gonna lead you to your purpose.

What I mean by that is my passion for flying led me to my purpose as an author, speaker, and coach. So I always talk about, you know, you've used the word passion. I always talk about how important it is to have passion for what you do. Yeah. You know? And so, um. That's, that's just what I believe and how I've lived my life. 

I totally agree. You know, it's interesting if God hadn't put as much physical distance between my then fiance and I at that time where I had to drive eight hours there and back to see her, I.  I would've never listened to podcasts. It just wasn't something I did. But with that eight hour drive, I could only listen to music for so long.

I said I need to do something else. I said, what is audio only that I can listen to while driving? 'cause I didn't think that, oh, I could just, most YouTube videos aren't designed to be audio only. You know, they're designed to be partnered up with a visual. So I said, oh, there's this thing called podcast.

I'll check it out. And little did I know that was gonna lead to me. Becoming a podcaster, going on podcast or cruises and, you know, speaking at podcast conferences like would've never known. And you know, I think it's, it's very interesting that my passion for podcasting is, is driving so many other facets that I've gone into now, which is the comedy, the speaking, the writing, it's all to help people.

And podcasting serves as the main medium through that. And then to which I connect with other people. But, so how did, I wanna understand, you talked about your passion for flying, led you to the authorship, to the speaking, to the mentoring. What is that connection there that, that we're not picking up on right now?

Well,  the, the, the passion for flying  was very inspirational for me  and  I about, so.  Probably about 2004 I got my pilot's license and about 2008 I started  really getting into personal development. Like a lot of people, I watched The Secret and then from there it went into other things. So I had my pilot's license, I got into, uh, personal development, fell in love with that.

Um, and then it really was  understanding that I didn't wanna make flying a career.  Okay. Because I knew that, I knew so many pilots who became professional pilots and they lost a passion for flying because it, yeah, it just became tough. They're just showing up. Yeah, yeah. In this city, this city, I go back and whatever, so I knew I didn't wanna ruin that passion, so I was actually doing passion and personal development at the same time, and  I knew what it felt like to be passionate about flying. 

So what I did was basically I transferred that passion for flying into my, uh, passion for personal development. So it's, it, it kind of went that way.  Hmm.  So you knew that  you were so passionate about flying, that if you didn't feel that same level of enthusiasm as, as longing, as desire, that excitement for something else, then it, it wasn't for you.

Right. And the thing about it is what I loved. What about, here's the thing. When I talk about a passion, when I talk about a passion, I'm not talking about just a garden variety of passion.  I'm talking about finding a passion that resonates with who you are at your core that speaks to you in here. You know, it's not just any kind of thing that you have fun, it's something deeper.

Because when you find a passion that resonates with who you are at your core, it can change your life in the world. And so.  With flying, obviously flying resonated with who I was at my core because it spoke to me at a deeper level because flying for me was freedom.  That was what that was for me, being an entrepreneur, being a, a coach, an author was entrepreneurial.

So it's  everything that I felt about  flying.  I just transferred into this inspiration and passion and freedom and everything that I felt about what I do now. 

Yeah. And so let's get into, you talk about transferring that, you know, passion into personal development. And so how did you go about just becoming a, a coach one day? You know, you just, how does that happen? Well, it's kind of a crazy story now. This is the thing.  I would tell your listeners about if you, if so,  if you have a dream for your life or if you feel like you have a purpose,  the two things you can control  are what you want to do and why you want to do it.

You cannot control how it will happen or when it will happen. Those two things completely out of our control. Right?  So, um.  So remind me of the question I got so lost in the how and the when and whatever. Talking about, you know, you talked about just taking that passion for flying, analyzing it and how you feel, and then doing personal development.

So the bridge between those two, how you became a personal developer and then you asked me about the coaching, right. So, right. This is, this is why. So  I knew I wanted to coach, writing, speaking, coaching. That's my gig. Right? Right. So I knew I wanted to coach.  I knew what I wanted. I knew I wanted to coach. I knew why I wanted to coach, to help people one-on-one to make a difference in their life. 

And when I say you can't control the how or the how it'll happen or the when it'll happen, how it happened for me is  I got my first co coaching gig that lasted 18 months  with the CEO of, of a big company in Washington, DC and six of his senior VPs that worked for him. And how it started was  that, um.

This guy was following me on Facebook 'cause I was inspirational and whatever, and he liked my stuff.  So I sent him a uh, message on Facebook Messenger one time. I said, Hey listen, let's get together on a call. So my idea was to call this guy. We'd have a nice conversation and we would form a mastermind group together.

'cause we were kind of similar minds and whatever I thought may maybe have a week a call, A call a week and whatever.  And so we got on our call  and I said to him, I said, you know. I'm thinking, I'd like to do a mastermind group with you. You and I can just have weekly calls. And he said, Martin, I want you to coach me. 

Okay. Yeah. You know? Okay. So, and the thing was, I was like, huh?  And I said to him, I said,  he said to me, how much would you charge me a month  to coach me?  And Bud caught me complete. 'cause I was just gonna do a mastermind group. I had no idea we were gonna go into a coaching relationship.  So I gave him a number, right, of what I would charge him per month.

And he said, that's too low.  He said, I'll never hire you if that's all the money you ask for as a coach, because that tells me you're not good at what you do. Are you good at what you do? And I said, I'm really good at what I do. He said, okay, gimme a number. And I turned it around on him. I said, okay, you tell me  what would you be willing to pay for a topnotch coach?

And he gave me a figure and I said, okay, that's what I want. He said, okay, I'll pay you. Now all of that came out of a call that that was really only supposed to be a mastermind call, and it grew into a highly lucrative 18 month relationship, and it made a big impact in the lives of seven people. Right? So that's what I talk about when I say, if you have a dream for your life,  focus on what that dream is and why you want it. 

Be doing action, taking action. Right. Don't get so focused on how it's gonna happen and when it's gonna happen. 'cause that's not up to you. Mm-hmm. But if you're doing it, you're loving it, you're passionate about, and you're taking steps, a door or a window is gonna open for you. You're gonna be aligned with that thing and you're gonna draw it to you and you're gonna wake up one day and you're gonna be living that dream life. 

It, it resonates with me with one of the previous guests on my show. I can't remember who said it. I wanna say it was Dame Lady Gen two Pluses. But don't quote me exactly on that. You know, I believe she said that luck is just when opportunity and preparation meet, and you talk about that preparation, being stay aligned with yourself, you know, prepare everything you want.

Let's say if it's coaching. If it's courses you have to take, if it's, you know, a certain way of talking, if it's books you have to read, you know, and then, 'cause that's what you can control, the preparation, the opportunity, like you said. I mean, I've had plenty of things in, in my speaking and writing and podcasting, that it's just like right time, right place, or what are the chances that this person is, is, you know, knows this person that wants to book me or whatever it may be.

So it's definitely. You know, a very interesting way that it develops and I want to get into, or go ahead. You have something to say? I was gonna say with regard to luck, right? One of the things I love about luck or, or when people talk about luck, I heard this and I love this,  and the guy said, if you wanna be lucky,  the secret is to hang around long enough until you get lucky.

Well, okay, that makes sense. Persevere. Keep going because the door's gonna open for you if you just hang in there.  Yeah, I mean, even just scientifically speaking, for all my logical thinkers out there, if what can happen at any given time, the longer time that passes, the, the more likely there's a chance that it'll happen.

So, right. But I completely agree and I think that's why we see, I. You know, so many podcasters fail. You know, I work with Alex Sanfilippo through, um, he's creator of pod match and pod lottery and all that, and he puts out a report every month of the latest in the podcasting industry for independent podcasters.

And it's about 400 or so, sometimes less, sometimes more depending on the month. Podcasters that quit every day, you know, less than 5% who make it to a hundred episodes. Uh, 50% don't even make it to like eight episodes, I believe. So when you talk about staying long enough, so many of us get frustrated and I'm using podcasting 'cause it's a very clear example that I can relate to that,  you know, people don't see instant success.

But it could be the same with coaching. I mean, you've got that one person, but that could be the f the only person you have for the next three years. For all we know, you know, you gotta keep going. Or another great example, real estate. So many people think that they're gonna just start selling houses left and right.

You may only sell one or two houses that year and hope that those paychecks are big enough to last you in the meantime, you know? But the longer you stay at it and stay consistent. I mean, they talk about when it comes to content creation, whether podcasting, writing, social media, influencing  consistency is so important because you just keep showing up every day.

You know, and some in one of those days, you know, we talk about you never know who's gonna listen to your podcast, or even with book signings, you know, some authors are discouraged. They host this event and only three people show up for the book signing. But that one person could be a famous author or the head of a marketing company who likes what you do.

You, you just, you just never know. And I love, there's an old comic graphic that I see so much on the internet. It's a guy who's been mining underground and he turns around. And he was just inches away from a giant diamond. You know, I've seen that example so much, and that's really how it is.  Well, it is.

You, have you ever heard of the, um, the, the book Think and Grow Rich with Napoleon Hill? I, I've heard of it. I've had a couple, uh, guests recommend it. Uh, I have not read it yet though, but it's kinda the same thing you're talking about. There's this story about being three feet from gold and these guys giving up. 

Because they were, they were hitting these dry spots and they weren't finding any gold. They sold their equipment to some guys who went back out there. They just hit, they went three feet the other way, and they found just tons amount of gold. So, yeah.  Yeah, and you know, it'd be like, imagine you had given up right before that client and then someone else who was less professional than you, less experienced than you stumbled upon that person and then, you know, got that client, you know, so it, it is definitely the way life goes sometimes.

And, you know, it can be really rough for podcasters, for authors, for social media, influencers, and all the above. Or even like sales, you know, going door to door and you know, you're getting nothing, nothing, nothing. I mean, anything entrepreneurial. You know, any gig. And so I want to talk about, you know, we've mentioned authors and writing, and you've mentioned being an author as well.

So where did that develop from the, you know, doing the personal development? At what point in your journey did the authoring come along?  When I was in college, um,  uh, my mom was a published author, so that was, I had that start. And  I love writing. I'm a very creative person. Um, but when I was in college.  I remember writing a term paper in college and the, uh,  the professor failed me.

He gave me an F on the paper. Wow. And  I,  I  went up to her after the class and I said, because I had poured my heart and soul into this, spent hours and hours and hours.  I said,  why did you fail me for this term paper?  And she said, because it was too good. He said, the level of per the level you're at, you couldn't have written this without copying it from other people.

Now we didn't have the internet, you know, so we, I, it's not like I could go copy and paste a lot of stuff.  So, um, that really rocked me to the point where  I, I didn't write for 20 years  and then I just rediscovered the passion for writing and  what I talk about a lot of times.  In my speeches, and this is really important for people, when you have a dream for your life, like I had a dream as an author, speaker, and coach, and as an author,  when you're going through hard times, um, when it looks like  things aren't working the way you want 'em to,  writing was something that helped me. 

Heal and kept me moving forward. So it was something that I used as therapy as well as something that I just genuinely loved to do. Um, so  when I wrote the first two books I've wr written, um,  winning the War with Yourself and the Pig Principle, both of those books came at times where I went through some hard times.

The, the,  the first book I published, the first book. A year after my mom died, which was a very traumatic experience in my life. And the second book I, I wrote, um, I published seven months after I found out that my wife had had an affair. And so the reason I say that to you is that when  you have a passion, like I had a passion or rediscovered passion for writing,  when you're pursuing a passion,  it's not only something that can get you through.

Uh, that's great during good times, but it's also something that can get you through hard times because, um, writing both of those books when they came out in both situations,  I wasn't mentally or emotionally prepared to market or sell either one of those books, but writing those books helped me heal and kept me moving forward in the pursuit of my dreams. 

Yeah, we've talked a lot on the show about the therapeutic power of writing and what it can get us through as well as working out, but I wanna pivot back real quick to that college incident that you had. You know, it's something that people are so quick, they want to  make any excuse or reason. To explain why they couldn't do what you've done yourself.

You know, I remember when Tim Thomas came on the show. He, he was Australia. He's the oldest guy to ever join the Australian Special Forces, and everyone kept telling him, you're too old to do MMA fighting. You're too old to join the Special Forces. And he said, you are too old to do it at your age. He said, at my age, I can do it.

And. I remember watching a video. I like to consume a lot of David Goggin's content, and he gets all these comments. You're on TRT, you're on steroids, this and that. You know, the same thing with, you had to had AI like that, or in your case, you know, just that you copied and pasted it. But in general, people were so quick to try to make some kind of shortcut for you because a shortcut is the only way they could do it, you know?

There are a lot of people out there using steroids, so I won't deny that, but it's really insulting and upsetting when someone who has trained so hard to be fit, to be muscular, naturally gets accused of that. The same way with you poured your heart and soul into this and they say, well, this is too good.

You had to cheat. You know, or sometimes I've seen even relationships. You do some big grand romantic gesture and they're like. What's the catch? What are you hiding? You know, things can never be as they are.  Yeah. And you hit on something that's really kind of a sticking point for me, and that's the subject of age.

And I see so many people  that  limit what's possible for them because they think they're too old. Right. And so a lot of times, even this latest speech that I'm going out and talking to audiences with.  I don't think people understand because like if, if you were to ask me today, how old are you, right?  I would not answer that, that question in the traditional manner because I don't say I am blank  because I am,  or two of the most powerful words in the English language because they become a declaratory sentence when you go, I am poor, I am mad, I am rich, I am whatever.

I don't like that.  If you ask me that, I would probably come back. Well, my birth, my driver's license says I am blah. The government would tell you I am this. I don't, I don't buy into that. And I, I tell people in my speech, I say, you know what,  people, people stop what they're possible, what's possible for them because they think they're too old. 

And you just mentioned this Tim Thomas fellow, right? And so with, with people, I say, look.  This is a real important point,  seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Were all made up.  There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year because people, a long time ago got together and it invented all of it. 

My birth, my driver's license, if you looked at it, says I was born on February 4th.  February's not real. The number four and every other number is not real. Yeah. So they're all made up. So I'm never gonna go out and say, well, I can't do this because I am this age or that age, or whatever. I mean, I am,  I'm actually kicking butt at in the gym and, and, and, you know, going way past this injury I had, if I was to walk around and go, you know, I'm just, um, I can't, I would never get it.

I would never do it. So I'm, I'm on a mission and you hit something, you hit a sore spot there because I'm on a mission to get people to realize that age is not real unless you believe it.  You know, in our episode, in my episode of.  You know, having a life of vitality at any age. 'cause there's so many podcasters out there pushing for, you know, not to be defined by your age.

And it's remarkable. I had EJ Skull Crusher Schneider America's number one ranked survivalist on the show, six times naked freight champion. And he's in his  sixties, maybe early seventies, and out here throwing axes, killing alligators, climbing mountains like, and then you have people, I've seen people who are in there. 

You know, fifties and they're like, I'm old now. You gotta take care of me, son. You know, it really is.  It's, it's whether you wanna use that excuse or not. And I go back to that episode on, you know, living a Life with Vitality. Adrian Simmons, she talked about how.  When her health started to decline because of her poor choices, she used her ages to excuse, well doc, you know, I'm reaching this age, so now this and this are supposed to happen.

He goes, well, who said those are supposed to happen? He said, that doesn't have to happen just 'cause you've reached this age. That's just what people want to say so they can excuse you or, you know, sell more medicine or whatever it may be. And I actually have the, the opposite situation where. You know, some people are impressed by what I've done at my age and where I have a lot of people are like, well, you're too young to have done all that or to know this or that.

And, um, I always refer to just 'cause I'm a man of God, or refer back to one Timothy four 11 through 13, which is command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but send an example for the believers in speech and conduct and love and faith and impurity.  X, Y, Z, X, Y, Z.

And then there's even some, uh, other sections, the Bible where extremely young people are used. And at the same time, you see really old people are used where they say, I'm too old to do this and that. Yet, um, in the biblical sense, God says, age doesn't matter who I want to use and who I call, I call in the same way.

If there's a passion calling on you, whether it's to.  Speak, whether it's to write, whether it's to be athletic, you know, you shouldn't let that stop you. And I think it's so, like I said, people want shortcuts. People want excuses to either not do something or to explain why people have done what they're struggling to do.

And it, it is truly sad to see people. Give up on life after 40 or 50 or 60 or after menopause and just say, well, I'm, I'm done. These are my, my retirement years. When there's so much more life to live. You're only halfway through for most of the part. I mean, like you said, you're out here lifting weights, probably more athletically capable than probably 85% of Americans who are 20, 30, 40 years younger than you. 

Well, it's interesting because I, you know, one of the reasons I do the bodybuilding now is that, that, uh, and I've done it for all these years now,  is that I asked a pro bodybuilder, a friend of mine one time about just how popular bodybuilding was, or competitive bodybuilding, and he said  one half of 1%,  one half of 1% of everybody who ever walks into a gym competes,  wow.

I like to be, I like to be that part of that one half of 1%, you know.  And I like to be doing it just by showing up. I like to be doing it at this point in my life when so many other people are giving up and I'm like, no, no, no, no. You don't have to give up.  It's all about what's up here.  That is, that is an amazing statistic.

You know, it's.  Yeah, and most of it is not that people aren't capable of doing it, it's just that they choose not to because they put limitations on themself. And you know, just speaking of limitations and excuses and shortcuts, I want to get into what you call the pig principle. I. It is an acronym, and I'd love for you to explain that to us and how we can apply it to our lives to live a life where we are accomplishing and pursuing our dreams and not limiting ourselves, not, you know, holding our life or our passions back. 

Well, the book that I wrote, the most recent book that came out a couple of years ago called The Pig Principle, talks about this principle that I spoke to, uh, to a little bit earlier in the.  The principle is when you pursue your passion with intention and gratitude, your passion will either become your purpose or lead you to it.

And when you live with grace,  you help other people find it lives their purpose. Now. So the Pig, the acronym PIG stands for passion, intention, gratitude, and grace. Now, if we talk about each one of those individual energies as they relate specifically to finding and living your purpose in life, passion is finding the one thing. 

That inspires you above all other things. What's that passion? I call it your greatest passion.  Intention. Now intention is the energy  of what you do  and who you connect to, who you connect to is super important. Yeah. Yeah. Because I tell people all the time, you can't soar with eagles if you hang around with turkeys.

It's just not going to happen. Jim Rohn was said right when he said, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.  So we've gotta choose those people wisely. So it's the energy of what you do and more importantly, who you connect to.  The third, the first G in the, in the acronym.

Gratitude is gratitude for the journey and your blessings along the way, because it's easy to be grateful for your blessings.  The good parts of your journey, but it's hard to be part hard to be grateful for the hard parts of your journey. And so I help in my coaching and speaking. I walk people through how to be grateful for the hard stuff and I use some examples for my own life.

And then the last G in the acronym Pig is Grace. And I define grace as moving through the world with love for yourself and others,  and generosity in the offering of your time, talents, and network to help help other people find and live their purpose or their dream.  So it's passion, intention, gratitude, and grace.

And it's all about how you use those four energies to find and live your dream or to find and live your purpose. Because I think the two are, are simul, are same.  Yeah. And you know, you're still doing that to this day. You came back from your injury where most people, I assume, and correct me if I'm wrong, said at your age with that injury, you should just give up on the physical fitness stuff and not risk anything.

Is that correct? 

Nobody, nobody in my circle would ever say that to me. Yeah. Obviously, because I'm intentional about my circle.  I'm not around it, and if somebody starts to say anything that's maybe just outside, I'll cut 'em off or I'll walk away. I don't listen to that kind of thing. I'm very intentional about those five people I spend the most time with.

You know, those are the, those are the people that. That lift me up, that support me, that encourage me, that believe in me, and I do them as well. So I don't have people in my life  who, who have those kinds of attitudes, and I don't attract those kinds of people because I don't have that, that same attitude because energy, you don't like energies or attracted to to each other.

So those kinds of people don't come into my life because I don't give out that kind of energy.  Yeah, that's interesting. But for, so you talk about,  for people who feel like it's inevitable that someone's gonna say something along the way, how would you  talk to them about dealing with that? Well, it really depends on who they are and what the, who's, what their relationship is to you.

I mean, if their friends or their family, um. I like to talk about it kind of, if you can look at a, like a, a dartboard and you can draw, it's like circles in a dartboard.  I look at the top. I like, I look at the people who, your allies, um, your friends, your allies, your close people, people that you, that, that vibe with you, that get you.

Those are the people, the primary people you need to be around.  And so. I, I, I walk people through an exercise and I say, okay, write down the, write down the people in your life, your family, your friends. Write 'em all down. Okay, so then let's, let's look at the ones, who are the people who are positive? Who are the people who are negative?

Who are the battery chargers? Who are the battery drainers? Okay. So what we wanna do is we wanna put those people who are the battery chargers in that center circle, and we wanna move the other people out into the periphery, into the other circles. And so the thing is that. That can be hard to do when they're family.

Right. But my thing is, I, I talked to somebody one time, she had a, an aunt that she talked to three or four times a week who was very, um,  she, she caused this woman a lot of stress. And I said, listen,  I know you can't  totally in the relationship with your aunt,  but you don't need to talk to her every week. 

Start talking to her once a week. I mean, once every couple of weeks or once every three weeks. Be intentional about when you speak to this person, right? So it's really about, it's really about  identifying who those people are that get you, that support you, that, that vibe with you, that that will be there for you, that believe in you.

And if you have a dream, then they're gonna be there for you. Now, here's an interesting thing. I posted something on my social media today.  Friends are important, right? Yeah. Allies are necessary. Mm. If you want to, if you want to, if you want to just really soar at Soar in life, you need allies. Here's an ally. 

Martin, I love you. I believe in you.  You have all the talent to do this. I know you can do it, but I gotta be honest with you, here's an area where you're kind of screwing up.  I'm gonna listen to that person. I respect that person  because I know they've got my best interest at heart and they want me to do what I want to do.

That's an ally.  We can have all the friends we want, but we need to be looking for allies. Allies are essential, and you're not gonna find a lot of them.  There may be a handful in your life. That's the person who has your back all the time, who is gonna support you, push you, believe in you, and if you, for some reason, you kind of divert, you go off in another direction.

They're gonna try to pull you back in and you respect them enough to listen to 'em and take action on that. Right. And I'll tell you,  lemme give you an example.  Um, I've got a friend in the gym,  professional bodybuilder,  I post videos on my Instagram channel to inspire people. A lot of 'em are like leg, leg videos because yeah, all, all these people know that I tore my leg up and so now I'm using it to inspire me.

So two days ago, I'm getting ready to leave the gym. He pulls me aside, he said, and I got all the world. He's, he's an ally.  He said, Martin, I appreciate what you're doing. You're inspiring people. That's great, but I can look into your eyes and I can tell you you're afraid.  And I said, what do you mean you've got fear?

He said, I watch your videos, how you're doing these exercises.  It's like you've got PTSD.  And which is understandable if you've had a, I had a traumatic rupture of the quadriceps tendon. I had a, it was a big deal, right? Yeah. So he said, but I can see that in your video. I can see there's fear there and here's, and he explained to me about, he said, it's like PTSD.

And he said, I understand you've gone through this, but you gotta push through that and you've gotta do this, this, and this and this. So  I heard that. And because I respect him and I know he has my back. I went and did legs yesterday. A completely different attitude toward my legs. No fear. And it made all the difference in the world.

So my thing is, find those allies. People you respect, people that know that you what you wanna do and support you and what you wanna do, but we'll call you on your BS. If you start to go a certain way, they're go, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is what's going on. You need to fix this.  Find allies.  Yeah. So allies hold you accountable, but friends enable, they just enable, right?

Absolutely. Yeah. So we've talked a lot about the past and even some of the present. What is the future looking like for you in terms of, is there another book in you somewhere? Are you gonna continue mentoring and speaking? Are you still available as a coach? Yeah, I, yeah, I, I, uh, have a number of coaching clients.

Uh, I'm speaking a lot. I'm working on a third book now. The, the speech that I'm giving now is called Training Your Pig to Fly, how the Impossible Becomes Possible When You Believe in Yourself and Go For Your Dreams. So I will have a book coming out.  Yeah, I, yeah. Right. The Flying Pigs. Right. I, I have a book coming out by the same name next year on that, but I'm coaching people.

I'm speaking, I'm working on this book. Um. And you talked about the future, this is something that's important and we could get the get, we could get a more deep, deeply involved in this at a later time if you're interested.  I live my future now.  Mm-hmm.  I, because here's the thing,  our thoughts create our life. 

Your thoughts create your reality.  Where we are now is where we thought we would be before, for better or worse. So.  I have a very clear vision of, of where I'm going with my life, with my finances, with the woman I love, with the home I live in. All of those things. I'm living them now  so that even though I'm not living them, you know, maybe physically I'm living them mentally, I'm drawing them to me.

And that's, I don't know if you've read people like Joe Dispenza or some of these other people who are personal development people. Um.  Really the key is  if, if thoughts create our real reality and the world we're living in right now was created by the thoughts we were thinking before  then if we have a vision for our life, a very clear vision that we wanna live, we need to be living that vision now with elevated energy, elevated emotions.

Like when I go to bed, I'm living that dream. I'm in the house. I'm with my wife, I've got my family. I'm out on stage. I'm speaking on stages now and coaching people, but I'm still visualizing bigger, bigger, bigger arenas and more people. So the key is you talk about a future,  be your future self now, and draw that to you because what you want  is not out in front of you.

What you want exists beside you, and we need to draw that to us. And how we do that is we align our energy with God energy or the universe or whatever you want to call. When we align that energy,  we can do anything.  Yeah, so we will have for people who wanna work with you one-on-one or get to know you more, or book you to speak, we're gonna have your website in a description below.

And before we sign off here, which you and I will connect again in the future on the show as well as in person, I have to address a story that was under the 10 things you might Not Know About Me, part of your website, which was, uh.  You mentioned being kidnapped. Uh, so tell us about that story to wrap things up here.

Okay, so, um, I did business, I did a lot of business in, uh, the former Soviet Union. I was in Russia a number of times. I've since been to Ukraine. But, um,  I was living in Houston, Texas, and  there was a friend of mine who was from the Republic of Georgia. Tbilisi, Georgia. Right. Not Atlanta, Georgia, but the, the Georgia that's over in the Soviet Union.

Yeah. Yeah.  So  he said to me, he said,  Martin, I have a, I have a niece that lives in Tbilisi  and she's really beautiful and she would like to meet a man. Okay, great. I'm single, right?  So I get on a plane in Houston, Texas, and I fly to Georgia to, to meet this woman. Wow. And so. I was told beforehand  that she spoke English, right? 

So I get to the airport,  I see her and her girlfriend, um, is with her to, to be there at the airport. So I walk up to her and I say her name. I'm gonna say her name was, let's call her, um, um, X, Y, Z. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I meet Arina. It's really nice, and I start to speak to her in English and her friend says. 

Arena doesn't speak English. I'm like, wait a minute.  I was told that before I ever got on a plane. I said, no, no, she doesn't speak it. So then I say to Arena,  because I speak Russian, right? Mm-hmm.  So she says she doesn't speak Russian. Now pretty much everybody over there spoke Russian. So I don't even, I don't know what to do.

I mean, she doesn't speak English, she doesn't speak Russian. And because I've been in business in Russia, so I spoke Russian. So anyway,  and there was a guy there.  Guy and the, the, the woman, the friend of of arenas who was acting as the interpreter said, oh, that's Dmitri, that's her, her cousin.  So anyway, okay, cool. 

So we get to the apartment  and  it was  Arena, her sister, her mom, the dad had passed away.  And then,  um, Irina's friend, the one that came to the airport, and then this big guy, Dimitri.  So  I went to bed that night. They, they, they let me sleep in arena's room and Arena slept on the couch.  And so the next night everything was good.

Next night, three other really big men showed up and I was like,  what? What's going on here? So she explained that these were all relatives or,  right. So, okay. Right. Yeah. Yeah.  So I went to bed that night, about two in the morning. I hear.  What, what? So anyway,  I'm not gonna get into the graphic part of this, but I'm gonna tell you.

So anyway, so Arina comes in, she's in her nightgown,  and  it's very obvious of what she wants to do right  now. This is not normal.  This is, I've been in that culture before. I don't know this woman, and yet we're about to have this relationship and I don't even. So I'm already like, this is, this, something's wrong here.

So  she pushes me down on the bed and then she gets really excited. I'm, as, I'm starting to get really nervous right now. So anyway, I won't go into all the details, but I stood up  and I took her up and I, and I said to her, I said, you need to leave. I said, you know, leave. And she said to me in perfect English. 

No problem, Martin, only shame. I was like,  this woman doesn't speak English, but she said that perfectly. No problem. Martin, only shame.  So long story short,  um, she leaves, I close the door  and I was thinking about God the whole time. I was like, what's going on? God, this doesn't make any sense. This doesn't make any sense.

Yeah. So anyway, so the next morning I go into the kitchen. It's real quiet. All the big guys are gone. They're all, they've all left. It's just me and the, the, the women.  So I pulled the, the woman I pulled, the, the, the woman who spoke, Irina's friend into the living room. I said,  I don't understand what's going on here. 

And she said, she just gave it up. She said, Martin,  those men, they're not family,  but we had a deal with them  that.  They were gonna catch you in the act of having relations with this woman, with, with arena, and they were going to accuse you of s selling and her reputation and doing blah, blah, blah. And they were gonna put you in a car and drive you to the pa, the priest, and you force you to marry this woman. 

And when you, when you, for when you made arena leave the room, they gave up. They knew it wasn't gonna happen. So they had concocted all of this plan  to get this girl married. Now, the sad part of that was that in their culture, because she had been married before and divorced in their culture,  when a woman was married,  it was almost like she was damaged goods, so she was probably not going to get married again. 

And so they were desperate to get her married.  When I talked to, I talked to a Georgian woman who worked at the American Embassy, who was married to a Georgian man,  and she said, yeah, that happens all the time. They're always kidnapping men, enforcing to marry women here. I'm like, oh,  wow. So that was the story. 

Wow. And, and you know what, Martin, there are plenty of men who, um.  Do not think as straight as as you did in that situation, who would've, uh, caught themselves in a trap. So congrats on you for being a self-controlled, disciplined man. You thank you. And, uh, listening to that paranoia, paranoia's, a good to have, you know, there's a, there's a level of it for a reason.

Hey, listen, God was with me the whole time, man. 'cause I was actually speaking to God in my mind, this is not right. This doesn't make any sense. What am I supposed? 

Wow. Yeah, that's certainly something. And uh, yeah, I just, I, when I saw that on your website, I had to, uh, you know, ask about that. But ladies and gentlemen, there are. You know, eight other things that we didn't discuss. Fun facts about Martin that you can find on his website. So be sure to check that out along with his coaching, his speaking and his books.

But Martin, it's been a great time having you here. I'm glad we were able to connect. It's been, I didn't realize how long it's been when you said you got injured, you know, during the summer I was like, has it been that long? And I was like, wow, time is flying by. But time is just a construct, so we're good. 

Well, I'm gonna leave you with a quote. Which is one I came up with myself. It's kind of like my mantra that I use in life because if we all allow ourselves to be, to live the programming we had from birth,  we, if we, if we agree to that, we end up living average lives. We end up living mediocre lives, lives that are not worthy of the beautiful, unique, and miraculous people we are.

And so what I tell people is when it comes to mediocrity, never allows the voices of mediocrity.  To silence the whispers of your own soul.  Amen. Well, Martin, thank you for sharing that and for everything you've shared today, like I said, looking forward to connecting with you again.  Thank you. It's great to be here.

I've loved this.