Building A Healthy Lifestyle That Lasts: Small Changes, Balance, & Discipline

Today, I sit down with Jacob Hiers, an insurance agency owner, husband, father of three, and competitive bodybuilder. Mr. Hiers shares the pivotal moment that pushed him into a serious fitness journey—seeing himself in a video that became his wake-up call. From there, he began small, consistent changes that eventually transformed his life and led him to competing in bodybuilding shows, where he recently won six first-place titles.

In our conversation, Mr. Hiers breaks down how discipline, not just motivation, became the foundation of his transformation. We talk about balancing family responsibilities with a bodybuilding lifestyle, the role of communication in marriage during intense competition prep, and how healthy habits can positively impact children. He also shares practical insights on nutrition, training, and the importance of building a sustainable lifestyle instead of chasing quick fixes like steroids or fad diets.

We also dive into the lessons he learned from competition, from enduring long prep cycles to navigating setbacks such as his coach’s car accident before his first show. Mr. Hiers is transparent about the mental and physical struggles behind bodybuilding, while also offering encouragement and advice for anyone just starting their fitness journey. 

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*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and today's guest is, I'll say, courtesy of Battle fitted, uh, coach Rob. He posted a social media clip with today's guest, and that is kind of what led to this conversation happening. We're gonna get into what that clip said in a minute here, because that's really, it's a story that I think.

You know, it needs to be shared. So Jacob hires great to have you here. You, and I'd love for you to just tell us a little bit about yourself. A brief overview. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, I'm 37 years old. Um, I'm married. I got three kids. A, a 10-year-old daughter, um, and two boys, a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old.

So stay pretty busy. Um. My, uh, my bread and butter business, I guess is my insurance agency. That's what pays the bills. Um, and then bodybuilding is, is kind of my hobby. So, um, it's obviously turned into a lifestyle over the last couple years, but, um, it's become bigger part of my life, uh, as I've gotten deeper into it.

But, uh, that's pretty much it. Yeah. Yeah. And so to go back to the clip I saw, it was basically you were telling Coach Rob, that someone had posted on Facebook a video of you dancing and you saw yourself from that outsider view that you know, what you described living in your body every day. But when you saw it from that perspective, it, it just shocked you.

And that's actually the same experience Coach Rob went through when he came on my show. Um, quite a few episodes ago. He shared about, completed a mud run. Saw the picture of him, saw how heavy he was, and he was just like disgusted. Even though, yeah. I mean, props to him for finishing that run like that, you know, a great photograph for sure.

Seeing himself and being like, is that what I look like? Is that what others see? Yeah. Tell us about kind of through that moment, how that changed your life. Yeah. Um, I remember like it was yesterday, to be honest with you, it's one of those things like you see yourself all the time, um, and you see pictures of yourself all the time.

So that was nothing new. I don't, I really don't know. I don't know why that one image, that one video kind of set that trigger for me, but it definitely did. Um, but it, specifically, what it was, was I was over at my wife's, I was over at the in-laws house, which we go over to all the time, just normal, having fun, dancing around with music and having good food, good drinks, whatever.

And somebody had posted, I think it was on Facebook, somebody had posted a video of me dancing. And I just hated everything about what I saw. Um, like not an ounce of it was light. Um, and it was kind of just like my wake up call. Uh, it was just like, okay, you're, you've completely let yourself go. You're outta shape.

Um. Usually when those moments happen. For me, I'm pretty strong with my willpower when it comes to like making changes, but those kind of things have to happen usually. So it's not, it's not as easy as me just saying like, yeah, let's make changes. Um, yeah, something that's kind of wake me up a little bit and trigger that, that emotion inside me.

Um, and that kind of just led me down the beginning of my fitness path or. Reinventing my fitness path because I've kind of, I've been in fitness on and off my whole life. I played sports when I was growing up and stuff, so it was nothing new to me. But life took over and that was around the time we had my second son, so about five years ago.

Um, and I just completely, I, I wasn't going to the gym, I wasn't watching what I ate, completely let myself go. And so that, that kind of triggered that. And I just started by going on walks daily and then. Started changing out some of my foods, not drinking as much alcohol. That was a big thing. Um, and then after I did that for maybe a year and a half, two years, and I only got so far with it.

And then one thing led to another and I ended up, that's when I ended up getting connected with the coach I'm with now. And that's when, that's when things really took off. Um, and I got real results. So that's kind of the. Brief synopsis of that. Right. And you mentioned, you know, making change. And it's interesting, I just got out of a virtual event where we were talking about change.

One of the gentlemen in the call presented a question, how do I embrace change better? How do I stop resisting change so much? And one of the segments of the conversation that I brought up. Was the narrow sightedness of people, the, especially the younger generations with instant gratification. Oh yeah.

And I spoke about how ozempic and steroids. Have become two mainstream ways of mm-hmm. Men, here's how to get jacked overnight. Women, here's how to lose weight overnight. Because people want to embrace change, but they don't want to earn it. And they don't wanna wait for it. Right. And that's the issue. So many people, I mean, and this is, you know, everyone knows every new year you get all this, this huge flux of people who.

Get the spurt of motivation, which motivation is nothing. It's all about driving discipline, but they get the spur of motivation, you know, to sign up new year, new you, and then we see all those people fade out. Why they, they will. They thought they wanted to embrace change, but they didn't realize they actually have to, um, you know, work with that change and wait for that change and think long term.

Right. I mean, I've been working out for, going on about one year now, and is, I've seen change to the degree I would like. Of course not, you know, I, I'd love to be, you know, I'm trying to get to 1 65. And I'm now at one 40 after, after one year of, of work off and on. I'm getting more consistent now and seeing faster change.

But you know, so many people want to make the change, but they want just that instant results. They want that easy fix. And I think social media is, you know, there's a huge influence in social media, which we'll get into being a, A good influence and a bad influence. 'cause there's a lot of guys on Instagram and other social media platforms kind of.

Misleading about fitness, about change, about muscle growth. Oh yeah. Same with women and, and those body images. Right. So we'll get into that. You kind of mentioned that your weight gain was a result of life kind of getting in the way, so to speak. And a lot of us are, are busy, you know, a lot, especially parents.

I mean, so how are you balancing fitness and now you have even more kids than you did back then? I mean, how do you balance it? Oh, uh, so it's one of those things. On my platforms, my whole thing is to, is to motivate and to educate, um, and to get people to do it the right way, because everything you just said is 100% accurate.

Um, and I think it's, it's definitely a younger generational thing, but we all have the tendency to want instant gratification. I still do, I still have moments where I'm just, you know, not patient with, with the process. Um. But at the end of the day, I'm a big firm believer in like building small habits over long periods of time.

Um, I think you brought up the whole new Year, new me New Year's resolution thing. That's the reason why those always fail, is because everybody tries to overhaul everything all at once, and that's impossible, man. It's, I don't care who you are, how dedicated you are, how disciplined you are, it's very, very difficult to like overhaul your entire lifestyle.

In one day or one week or whatever. So like my example, like I said, I started with just walking everything else. I kept the same. My life did not change except for just going on walks, you know, nothing crazy. And then I started changing out some foods, and I'm talking about over a period of a year, you know, like this is long drawn out and.

My whole thing is I preach about building a habit. Start with something. Whatever that something is that you can do and you can commit to on a daily basis, do that until it's like brushing your teeth where it's just guaranteed to get done no matter what. That's when you know you've got the discipline.

It's not about motivation anymore. You've got the discipline that's already a factor, that's part of your life. Then you add the next piece, and then you add the next piece, the next piece, and before you know it, your whole life looks totally different, but it takes a long time, and that's what people are not willing to commit to is the time.

When it comes to fitness, everybody wants the diet. Um, they wanna like go on a, a change for let's say six months, get results and then go back. There is no going back. If you wanna stay fit, your life has to change forever, forever. This is a, a decision you have to make at the beginning that just know you're gonna be changing how you live your life.

And you asked about like, my lifestyle. I'm blessed. Okay. So a lot of people ask me how I do it. My life scenario. I'm blessed that my main income is not a nine to five job. I run my own business, so I make my own schedule. So first thing I do in the morning, you know, we get the kids ready, get 'em, get the older ones to school, and then me and my wife, we don't even drive together because we have different routines and stuff, but we both go to the gym in the morning.

Um, that's my priority. I, I don't do anything else. I don't think about work, nothing until my gym is done. Once I do my gym, then I come home and I work from home. So that also makes it easier. And I, um, and then I focus on work, you know, which is mostly afternoon hours. So I'm working kind of part-time hours, which most people can't do.

So, you know, again, you gotta kind of figure out what works for you and your schedule, but that's, that's how I'm able to balance it. You mentioned something so important, and I, I want to make the analogy to, I do a lot of addiction recovery work on this show. Hmm. It's the same as if you're trying to get sober to drink again.

Right. If, if you're one of those alcoholics who, all right, I've started to get physical damage to my liver, I'm gonna sober up and then start drinking again. Right. They, because you talked about, I'm just gonna get in shape just so I can eat. Unhealthy again, or eat more unhealthy, right. Or to get back to this thing, you know, it's kind of like creating this cycle.

So I think a lot of people get stuck in that. And I, I'm with you on the overhaul. When I first started working out, it was full body workout. You know, every time I went to the gym, we're hitting every single muscle. And now I'm at the point where I do the designated days like, right, we're doing, you know, biceps and chest today, triceps and ect, whatever it is.

Right? Right. Everyone has their own different routines, but I was just so hot to try. I was like, we need to hit everything. Always. We wanna go everything all at once. And I didn't want to patiently, you know, but I have found it so much more beneficial to give the proper attention and really maximize out.

Each muscle group. And I realized that like this big race that we kind of set up in our own heads, you know? Yeah. When I was younger, I didn't wanna work out because of this, this whole paranoia of a, I never, I always wanted to be at a hundred percent and I never wanted to be at, you know, less than that because I had worked out.

But I realized like my 50% now is so much higher than my a hundred percent back then, you know? Sure. And it's like, again, I was in that mindset of I want. The change without the consequences, without the hardships, without everything that needs to go into it. And I'm so glad that I like, you know, turned around and, and have made that change.

And so where are you now physically compared to then, like, um, in terms of weight, body fat and all that? Yeah, so, you know, normally, like right now, I'm, I'm pretty light because I just, I just competed a handful of days ago. Um, so that's about as lean as I get, you know? But, um. Right now I'm at 205 pounds. Um, when I first cut all the way down, like once I hired my coach, which was about three years ago, that's when everything got really structured and strict with food and all that stuff.

Um, I got all the way down to like 180 5, but I didn't have anywhere near the size that I have now. Um, and then I bulk back up. So I, I would say like, the funny thing is like even when I was like really outta shape and I've got a, I've got a transformation like side by side on one of my posts from way back when.

I look super outta shape and then super in shape and I'm the exact same weight. So, you know, the, uh, the weight hasn't really changed drastically. I would say on average, I'm around two 10 to two 20 is kind of my range. Um, normally. Um, and that's been pretty consistent. You know, like obviously I'll fluctuate up and down.

Like when I was in my peak bulk last year, I got all the way up to 235 pounds. Um, but then you cut back down and I got all the way down to like 1, 9 5. So, um, there's a pretty big fluctuation there, but it just depends on what I'm, I'm targeting and what I'm trying to accomplish at that time, so. Right. And you did mention bodybuilding.

I know you were at the Georgia Convention Center not too long ago. Yeah. Like you said. And, um. So what kind of got you into like, Hey, I'm going to the gym now. I wanna turn my life around. I'm getting into shape to, I wanna start competing. I want to, you know, compete against other people. Like how you stumble into that?

It's a great question because it was not my plan by any means. I, my coach is a, is a professional body book, so he rubbed off on me over time. But, um. I started with him literally just for lifestyle change, right? I just wanted to get in shape. Um, you know, about, uh, or at that point in my life, I had never even obtained a six pack ever in my life.

Um, no. I was never, like, I was never like always overweight or anything. I just never was lean enough to see a six pack. So I told him, I was like, that was my goal. Number one. I was like, I wanna see if I can get lean enough to see a six pack. Um, and so that's what we did. And then that was kind of phase one.

Then phase two was like, okay, well we've, we've leaned out as much as possible. Let's now let's put on some muscle size. And we did that for like about a year and a half, two years. And, um, the more, the deeper we got into it, the more he was like, you're built for this. You could do bodybuilding if you want to.

Um, and just having him kind of like, I guess build my ego up a little bit over time. I got to a point, physically, I'm the type of person that, like, I'm not gonna dive into something like that unless I know I'm ready. Um, yeah, just, I just, I'm not like that. So, you know, it got to a point where I was like, I think I could do this.

Um, I at least wanna try it. And so we committed to doing it. I actually was gonna do it last year and that's when we had our, uh, our one-year-old. So that completely threw that off. So we put it off a year, um, which was beneficial 'cause I was able to kind of put on more size. Um. So it, it's been kind of planned out for about a year and a half before I actually did the show as far as deciding to do it.

Um, now as far as my routine and everything, not much really changed. I was already kind of doing the bodybuilding lifestyle. I just wasn't committed to competing at that point. Um, but now that I've done it once, now I wanna do it again. Now I wanna go for the Pro card and take it to the next level. Yeah.

So what insights could you share from you just competed a few days ago, um, in terms of your placement? How did you feel about it? What kind of lessons have you learned from not just the preparation, but from the, how the competition itself went? Yeah, so I'll start with the prep part because we decided most bodybuilders on average, I would say they start their prep cycle.

About 16 weeks out from the show, we decided to do it 24 weeks out. So I think it was around the beginning of February is when I started prepping. Um, and that's extremely long prep. Um, and. I'm pretty good about, I mean, we, I've been in a routine, food wise for so many years now to where I eat the same five meals every day.

It's been like that for years, and so for me, that's normal. The hard part about prep is usually you get like a cheat meal where you go out to a restaurant and do your thing on the weekend or whatever, and that's, that's kind of the balance that keeps you happy and good. And, you know, moving forward, um, once those get cut out, that's when the mental starts crashing.

Yeah. Because not only are you weak and tired all the time, which makes you kind of irritable and stuff, but then. You're not getting the balance that, you know, food makes people happy. Like it makes us all happy. So you're not getting that release either. And so we, me and my wife went through a rough patch for about a month, to be honest, where, uh, she was even starting to say things like, it's bodybuilding or US kind of thing, right?

Mm-hmm. Like it got that. And it was just me not knowing. Um, it was a whole new world for me. I've never experienced it, you know, now looking back, we kind of figured out a lot of things and, and how do I make adjustments to make it work? And, you know, the end of the prep was way smoother in the middle of it.

So, you know, we figured that out. That was kind of one of those things you have to figure out the hard way, unfortunately. Um, the show itself very interesting story. My coach is not local to me, so, you know, every, we do everything remote. Um, as far as the coaching goes, he would, he always though, will show up to a show and, and guide you through that process.

So. He was driving down the show was on Friday. I had to check in on Thursday. He was driving down on Wednesday last week and got in a head on collision on the way. So, um, oh, wow. Yeah. Shattered his jaw and he's gonna have to have surgery on his face, his ankle. So he got all kinds of messed up. Luckily he's okay besides that, but he missed the show, so it's a huge curve ball for me because going in, you're supposed to my guidance.

Right. Um, luckily he linked me up with a, a friend of his, who was also a coach. Who was gonna be at that show, and he kind of took over and, and helped me out a lot, um, in that final day. Um, but it was a very interesting experience just kind of going through, because obviously I'd never done anything like that before.

And they really don't give you a bunch of information as far as the structure and layout of how the show works. You kind of just go with the flow and figure it out as you go, which makes it challenging. But, um, I, I chose to compete in as many classes as I could. So there's divisions, right? There's bodybuilding, there's classic physique.

Um, bodybuilding is usually like the mass monsters. Classic physique is more of like, uh, more famous people like, I don't know if you know who sea bum is. Those guys. Those are, yeah, those are classic physique bodybuilders. So those are two divisions underneath that you can sign up for classes. So they have true novice for people who have never competed before.

They have novice for people who have never won a show before, and then what they call open, open is like your bread and butter, everybody's competing, right? Um, that's where the competition is. So I signed up for all three under both. So I did six classes and I got first place in all six. So it was a very, very cool first experience.

Now with that being said, the competition was not very hard. Um, there wasn't a ton of guys there. It was a smaller show. Um, and then, you know, going, looking ahead towards, you know, going after my Pro card in probably another year, I was able to see the pros there as well. 'cause they were, you know, their schedule is right either right before us or right after us.

And, um. So you kind of gave you the bar like, okay, this, that's what I need to be at. If I'm gonna go pro, I need to be able to compete against these guys. So that was a really cool thing to see firsthand, um, because it was like, yeah, it was a really cool first experience and I won a, a local show, but to get your pro card, it's like a whole nother beast, a whole nother level.

And so it was like as soon as I got back from the show on the weekend. I enjoyed the relaxation and the food and all that. And then Monday was like, gotta get right back on it. So right back on track. Yeah. Your small little victory and then it's uh, back to train. So when is your next upcoming show? Will it be, um, next year or there's other shows you're gonna try?

Yeah, so, so when you win like I did, then it qualifies you to compete in a national level show and you have to win first place overall against all classes to get your, to earn your pro card, which is what my next goal is. Um, but those are super competitive. So I, I obviously need time to develop myself more, to do better, posing all that stuff that goes into it.

Um, and so we, you, you have all the way through the following calendar year to use that qualification to compete. So ideally they haven't released a schedule of shows or anything for next year, but it'll probably be around the same time, maybe later in the year, next year when I compete again. The way that I'm hearing it described, you know, it's an art as much as it is just a muscle mass competition because Oh yeah.

Do you do certain workouts to sculpt your muscles a certain way? Because I know there's like, um, I was talking to a guy at the gym, like certain bicep exercises are making it, you know, longer or taller, like different shapes and stuff. So do you do very specific things to, to try to meet requirements or to design your physique a certain way?

Um, yes and no. So, um, the best way I can answer that question, I guess you're technically trying to develop every part of every muscle. Um, but where you have to be kind of cognizant is a big thing in bodybuilding is balance. Um, yeah. So, you know, like if you have, and everybody has strong points in weak points on their body naturally.

Um, and so I'm fortunate that I typically just naturally build very balanced, um, by myself. So I don't have to do like a lot of focus, but. Like for this last year leading up to the show, my hamstrings were super, super weak, underdeveloped. So we added two leg days instead of one where one is just hamstrings.

Um, so you, you definitely do things like that where you kind of spend more time on certain body parts. My arms have always been. Very, very easy to develop. They grow faster and everything else. So I don't have to spend a ton of time. I wish I had that problem. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people do. But, um, it is, it's definitely a benefit, like, looks wise, I guess.

But, but yeah, I, I don't get to work them out as much as I would like to because then I would create an imbalance and that's a big thing. But what you were just saying, yeah, the biggest thing, like when you're on stage. You can be the, the best physique by far. You could be the, the biggest guy by far, the leanest guy.

All that does play a factor. But at the end of the day, it's how you present it with your posing. So you know, if you're not really, really crisp and clean with like creating illusions of being bigger and certain angles and stuff, because again, you're trying to like enhance your weaknesses. To make them look like strengths.

And then you're really trying to display your strengths in the spotlight for the judges so that they're, that's where the arc piece comes in. And you can win or lose a show on posing alone. So, you know, you can put all that work in for years to develop your body, but if you don't know how to display it properly, you're not gonna win it.

Right. Yeah. I can relate to the, uh, so my issue, which is most people would probably be like, I wish I had that issue, was. My abs developed so much faster than everything else that I became potbellied, where I had a six pack of abs. But my chest was still flat. Yeah. And so with a shirt on it, it looked like I just had a little beer belly and it's like, no, actually it's a six pack of abs.

I just haven't developed my chest. And uh, I'm finally getting to the point where they're kind of caught up. So, 'cause like ideally you want, at least for me, I want my chest out further than my ass. Oh yeah. Don't everybody does belly and it's like, most people would be like, I wish my abs, you know, developed so much that I had that.

But it's, uh, exactly. Yeah, it's always been, um, my abs developed much more and, and what I will will say is so many people. Try to say like, oh, you know, you have abs because you're skinny. They're easier to see. Yes. But I still had to do the work and training to develop them to the point that I had them in.

And I think a lot of people forget that. They think, oh, you're just born with abs if you're, if you're skinny. And it's like, I still had to do the work to make them, they were more visible 'cause of my low body fat. It's still a muscle still had to develop. It's still a muscle that has to be developed. Yeah.

Yeah. So, um. And I was always thankful that even though I've always been a very skinny guy, because I did so much running and swimming and and leg training that um, I always had, you know, I didn't have like those little toothpick legs, you know? Right. I was like, at least if I'm gonna have toothpick arms, I'd rather have at least some strong legs.

Not all a hundred percent tooth toothpicks, you know? Um, so I respect, I respect, especially when you're talking about men, 'cause women tend to naturally, like if women that workout, I should say, tend to naturally spend a ton of time developing their legs. So they usually have good shaped legs and stuff already, but men tend to like shy away from developing legs a lot, and then they kind of look imbalanced.

And so like for people that are naturally skinnier or maybe they don't lift weights, they do a lot of running or whatever. To me, I respect when I see like very muscular legs, even if you're skinny up top of whatever, I'd rather have muscular legs than not. You know what I mean? It, it's a very, it's, it looks natural, it looks healthy.

It's, it's the way you're supposed to be, I think. Oh yeah. I met some skinny guys who have like these. Giant iron calves, and I'm like, I would not want this person to kick me. You all these soccer players who are just like, it's, it's so unexpected and um, for me it's like the way I've trained, it's developed more strength and less aesthetically.

Um, so I'm able to do a lot more than what it looks like. Uh, but it's frustrating, you know, and we live in a day and age where everything's celebrity and popularity competition. And it's not about what you can do, but what it looks like you can do. Um, true, true. You know, and I, I, I gotta say, just 'cause I'm thinking about it, uh, I posted the other day about how I hate pushups.

Like people love them. I just, my least favorite, uh, workouts I have to ask, is there a, a workout that you're kind of forced to do for your bodybuilding that you just hate? That you just dread? And is there one that you love on the, on the other spectrum? Yeah. So I mean there definitely is. Um, so I think everybody that would watch this can relate to not enjoying leg day.

Um, I have surprisingly, I used to hate leg day, like back before my coach. Everything I used, if I skipped one day, I'd be leg day. Um, then you get, kinda get into the development of your body and you get really in tune with that piece. And then when you start seeing like the changes in the growth in your legs, like I like leg day more.

I'm not saying I love it or anything. So I would say like, uh, hack squats, it's, it's a very big time of love hate relationship for me. I love it in the fact that it gets me great results, but I despise doing them 'cause they're extremely brutal, extremely painful. Um. Unfortunately, when you become more experienced, uh, like I am with leg development, if you're not living in that brutally painful zone, you're just not gonna develop your legs.

Legs are, yeah, the hardest thing to develop because you have to, your intensity has to be 10 times harder than anything else. You work out so well, that's why I love it. The thing I love, um, I'm trying to think. I, I don't know. I, I'm a big fan, so my chest used to be my biggest weak point. And I've turned it into a stronger point because I got away from doing regular bench press and stuff.

I just never do those anymore. And so cable flies would probably one of my favorites. Uh, the more flies I do, the more chest development I seem to get. Um, I get away from, I still do pressing movements, but I'm ready that down. I don't, that's what I need. I used to build my entire chest work workout on, on bench press, machine press, you know, all the pressing movements.

Um, and obviously you'd need those as part of it, but the flies is really, really gets you going, in my opinion. I'm gonna write that down. 'cause I, I think my chest is my weakest point right now. Like I've been working on it a lot. Mm-hmm. Um, and I do a lot of non bench press work as well, although I always try to throw that in there.

'cause it's class. Everyone wants to know what you bench, everyone wants to, you know. Oh yeah. I get that question all the time and I always tell I can't answer it. I, I don't know. Yeah. It's been years since I did regular bench press. The, the irony for me is I always loved leg day. It's the thing I do the least.

But I always loved it because it was my strongest lift because I was always, I, I mean, I would sometimes run for two hours straight. Every other day I would swim, like, so if I'm benching and I can only do, you know, 130, 140 pounds, but then I get on the leg press and I'm doing like. 350, it's like hundreds.

So I just, yeah, I, I just loved it. I hate the hack squad. It's a good ego boost for you. Yeah. Yeah. I, I do hate the hack squad, but I also love, like, for me, if I come home from leg day and I am shaking as I walk up the stairs, like that sucks. Don't get me wrong. I, I hate it. I, you know, I, I drop something and I gotta squat down.

I'm like, oh, I'm down here. I can't get back up. But I, I love it. And, um, it means you did the job right. You know? Yeah. And, and people really. I think underestimate the power of lunges because like I do so many leg workouts, but weighted lunges always just for me personally, it's like, man, pushing all that weight on the machine.

I, I didn't feel nothing. I did a few weighted lunges. I'm like, I'm feeling it now, you know? Yeah. Because you're having to like kind of stabilize your knee and stuff at the, I mean, and that's, that's, I'm glad you brought that up. 'cause that's probably one of my top most hated exercises as well. But it, it definitely generates great results.

100%. Yeah. I hate doing, um. Any calf machine. Calf machine, like calves. I just, I don't know. I just, but that's like, I feel it instantly like calves. I just, but what I like to do, and, and this is, uh, I'll advise this for anyone who hates, like using a calf machine, if you do barefoot running on soft sand, you know that's a great calf workout if you add weight to it.

Mm-hmm. That's a great workout. I, you know, I was doing the weighted stroller, weighted vest run the other day, and it's, it, I, you know, aimed at my calves and it's. Uh, I, I personally enjoy it better than a machine, you know? Oh yeah. Just running and, um, yeah, so I mean, you're gonna be competing again, obviously, you know, good luck with that.

And Thank you. You know, it's gonna be a lot of trading. Hopefully it sounds like you've got a better idea of how to do it. And, you know, you kind of touched upon something I was gonna ask earlier, which was about the balance, about, you know. How to not idolize it or make an obsession that kind of pushes other things away.

And so like you mentioned your wife saying bodybuilding or me, what did it take to fix that? Was it cutting back on bodybuilding or was it just communication and transparency? Like what advice would you give people? Some of, some of it was just battling through the hard patch, and I, I give you some more details because the details matter with this piece of the conversation.

Yeah. So my wife, her love language is like all the love languages. She doesn't have one. She, she likes to be touched and kissed and hugged and loved on. And when you are like super depleted and your body fat gets super low, your mind starts not functioning correctly. And so. Your, uh, your libido is crashing and the whole like touchy feeling thing is gone.

Okay. Like it's dead. So that's, that's where the disconnect came in, is she needs to feel the connection. And I wasn't giving that to her, um, because I was kind of dealing with my own internal battle, right? And I'm the type that when I'm battling something, um, I tend to internalize it. That's just how I've always done it.

And that was a mistake I should have. Explained better about here's what I'm dealing with, here's what I'm going through, here's why I am the way I am. Um, and so yeah, communication. We actually started doing something that we had never done where at night, once a night, once the kids went down, we were, we had like an open conversation where it was like we were not gonna get defensive.

This is not an argument. This is just purely communication. Like, just for today, what did I do that. Or what can I do to be better, you know, for you, um, how are you feeling? All that kind of stuff. And that was a really, we actually, I, I feel like our relationship got extremely stronger because of this, because we did get.

Pushed through a major trial, and me and my wife have always gotten along so well. Uh, we worked so well together that we've never really been tested like that, um, ever. And so this is a, it was a good, it was a good challenge for us. It was a brutal patch, but I think we came out on top and stronger and better than we ever have before.

And you know, now it's completely different. Now she's so about it, she's all on the, the soldier soldier team. She's talking about going for Pro Card and so she's 100% on board now and. It's funny 'cause she's also the same one that, uh, not that long ago used to tell me like, if you wanted to be with somebody that ate healthy food and went to the gym with you, like you better find somebody else.

And I was like, you know, I never said anything about it. But now she, she ended up hiring my coach's wife, who's also a body builder to do her coaching and she does her own meal plan, her own workout regimen. And that just happened naturally and organically just from me doing it, which makes it so much easier because now it's like.

We both eat similar foods. It's easier to keep the kids on track, you know, with eating healthier foods overall. Um, it's just improved our lives altogether. But it is a lifestyle. And when I say lifestyle overhaul, I, the way I can put this is everybody that we know. When they're coming over to visit or whatever, unless we're planning a meal, we let them know, like, if you need to eat snacks and stuff, you gotta bring them because we don't have that stuff in this house.

Yeah. We got protein, we got chicken, we got rice, we got the basics, but we don't have the junk. So if you need junk, you gotta bring it. Yeah. I think that alignment is so important because like, uh, you talk about it's easier. Uh, my ex-fiancee, she was on a calorie deficit and I was on bulk up weight gain diet, and so meal prepping, it's like.

All right. I'm just gonna make six of the dishes for you and I'm gonna eat one of them. Right. And hopefully they add up to be what you need. And it's like, yes. It's when you're total opposite. Um, and it is, it's interesting you brought that up. 'cause I was gonna ask about, you know, having a, a partner who's into fitness, but also you mentioned being a father and a lot of times if we love something.

Our children will see our love for it. They'll get into it, but oftentimes parents, we accidentally kind of push it onto our children and then they're not interested. How have you kind of introduced fitness to them and integrated it in a way that you're not kind of saying, Hey, you need to be the bodybuilder, but this is why it's important.

This is why I love it, and this is why I want you to be a part of it. That's a great question. Um. For me, I, I'm, I, I 100% agree with what you said. I, I never want to force my, my lifestyle on my kids. I'd rather just live it and then they can see the results of it. We talk about it, obviously, you know, they asked me questions, especially when, like when, when I was deep into prep and we were going out to restaurants and I was bringing my own food.

You know, like it took them a while to understand why that was happening. And, but then they also saw the dedication to commitment. Once they got used to it, then like when we all went out for that first cheat meal the night of the show when it was all over, they were more excited for me eating a burger and fries than even I was.

I think it was just a cool experience to see. Um, now I will say like as far as the food goes, because we don't. The one thing we definitely force, if you wanna put it that way, force on them is, is healthy eating now. Yeah. That's kind of just by default. Um, it's not like we're like hardcore, strict. I mean, they still get their, their junk, their ice cream.

I mean, they got grandparents on both sides that are close by and they spoil 'em all the time, so they get plenty of the junk and stuff on the weekends and all that. Our whole thing is to teach them like, Hey, there is nothing wrong with doing that. That's what balance is all about. Right? There's nothing wrong with having your ice cream, having your pizza, whatever you like to do, but during the week we're gonna be, we're gonna eat this stuff.

This is what we're gonna eat during the week when we're doing our regular routine, our work and our school schedule and all that stuff. I pack their lunches every day. So like they don't really have a choice when it comes to food. Yeah. It's just natural for them. Now we've been getting feedback from teachers and stuff at school where our kids are.

Asking the teachers, like if they're passing out candy, they're like, oh, is there sugar in that? Then I don't want it. And I, that makes me super proud. Yeah. It, I'm like, wow. For a 5-year-old, this is like my 5-year-old, this just happened the other day. For my, for a five yearold to like be cognizant of sugar is bad and I shouldn't have a lot of it, um, is an awesome victory for me.

Um, at some point in time though, they're gonna go get older and they're gonna have to make their own decisions. But the the benefit is they're gonna see. The lifestyle I chose and what it, and, and my wife and what rewards it benefited us with. And they can go down a different path, but there, there's always gonna be that to fall back on.

You know what I mean? So they might have, they might go astray for a, a time and, but then they might start feeling like crap and they might get overweight or whatever it may be that brings them back. But at least they have that as their foundation. Yeah, I know. Um, I've always wanted to be the dad who jogs with the kid in the stroller at the park.

Now I do that with my dog 'cause she's a three pound chihuahua, so I push her in the stroller. But like, oh yeah, I've always wanted to be that way. Makes myself so, yeah. You know, she's only three pounds. That's why I put the weighted plates in the stroller because, you know, that wouldn't be much of a workout if it was, if it was just right.

Yeah. I always wanted to be that dad. You know, we were out there with, with the kiddos, you know, and, uh. I think it's a great way to bond. As long as it, as it as, as it goes, great. You know, if you're understanding not too harsh and uh, 'cause on the other end I've seen some marines who train their sons to become a Marine and it's like, that was not good father bonding, you know, father son moment.

Yeah. It can be a little bit too extreme, I think. And then you might scare them away from that lifestyle by forcing it. Yeah, so my whole thing is like, especially like with my sons, if they grow up and they're, they ask me to work out with me. Of course I'll say, yes, welcome 'em with open arms and we'll, we'll go one step at a time, but I'm never gonna be like, you should do this, you should try this.

Now when it comes to like sports in general, we're, we're kind of from the, I kind of grew up this way as well where my parents forced me to try everything once. If I didn't like it, I didn't have to continue after that season or whatever. But, um, it really kind of just like feeds all the different options for you, you know?

So our kids have already started that process. As far as trying different sports and getting involved in a lot of different things and figuring out what they like, you know? Yeah. 'cause you never know if, if you don't try it first and, and my thing is. I had the opposite experience with my parents. Where they, me, they, they came to me and they're like, son, you're at the age now.

You gotta do a sport. And I said, okay. I said, I'd really like to do hockey. I said, I, I'm really fascinated with it. I love ice skating. I'd love to do it more aggressively. Play hockey, son, that's too dangerous. No, you can't do that. And so they shut that down and then they signed me up for lacrosse without asking me.

They just signed me up for lacrosse and I'm, it's like the same thing. I was like, so this is less dangerous. Yeah. And the other complaint was that it was expensive gear. And I was like, now you gotta buy lacrosse gear decided. Oh yeah. But then I missed a cutoff, uh, for like the age or the date or whatever by like four days.

And I had to wait till next year. So they said, son, since you're not playing sports, you gotta play an instrument. And then they said, I love to tell this story. They said, um, what do you wanna play? I said, well, I'd love to play the guitar, you know, to be able to just take the guitar out and, and, and woo, the ladies with a country song, or.

You know, gather around at a, at a, at a church group and start playing songs of faith. You know, it's just something very versatile. I could, I could pretty much use it anywhere. Some that's too common. You gotta pick something else. I said, okay, well I'd love to, um, woo people and play songs of faith on the piano.

You know, same thing, right? Piano. I don't carry a piano around, but there's usually one around son that's also too common. You, you're gonna be a violinist, so. Wow. You know, I, I had the opposite experience where I did not get to try everything. Yeah. Um, when I was in kindergarten, first grade, my father, you know, forced me to do wrestling and I just didn't enjoy, I, I would do it now, but at that time, you know, I was, I was like five, six years old and I was like, I just wanna be home with my sisters playing video games, watching TV again.

Right, right. Um. But I really wish I had played baseball or something. And it's kind of hard, I've, I wish there was more ways for like people in their twenties who aren't in college to kind of get sports opportunities. Um, especially that you, you're not playing against people who have played for years.

'cause it's like in my age group, it's like everyone who does it does it because they've been doing it since they were like five, right? Like there's no. Beginners, young adults, like sports groups. And I, I wish there was more stuff out there for that. Um, that's a good point. Yeah. Just keep adults active, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. So you've got a lot of big things coming your way. And then as far as like, um, you mentioned education on, um, on fitness, on nutrition, are you looking at developing into like coaching people or it's more like you're just, um, on social media, on the shows kind of. Sharing what, you know, like what's the development of that looking like?

So yeah, I'm kind of figuring that out. Um, at this moment in time, I, I'm open to coaching. I actually have a few calls after this with people from TikTok, um, that have just hopped on my lives at the gym that are interested in getting coaching. And I'm very open, uh, I mean very, um, transparent with those people because.

My whole thing is, I, I would not be opposed to coaching. I'm all, I'm all for helping people out. Um, and it would be a good little side hustle, if you will. But what I do know is the amount of time that I have to give to each individual would be very limited. So I would not be able to take on a ton of clients, you know, it'd be like a handful maximum, um, for be able to me to be able to do it properly for them, you know, that would be my main thing.

So if that's gonna be the case, then the main thing is figuring out are we gonna be a good fit for each other? Yeah. So, you know, I'm, I'm looking more to coach people that already have the mindset correct. I don't have time to babysit a mindset, I just don't have the time. There are coaches out there that do, and if you are at that level of the game, you need to find somebody else.

Um, I just don't have the time to commit to get you beyond that initial help. So. I'm looking into it. Um, we'll see how today goes with a few of these people I'm talking to. Um, but nothing like massive into coaching right now. Um, and I really am just kind of using, I guess I, I just kind of got into the whole social media thing as far as like posting content stuff pretty recently, like as in like the last like four or five months roughly is when I kind of started being active doing that.

And for me it was just like. It was a big moment in time for me when I got connected with my coach who was, God definitely put him in my life because it is the right, it's the perfect connection. We work so well together. I've achieved everything I could ever ask for through him so far, and that was just one person having an impact on me, right?

Like I want be able to do the same thing for others. I get an energetic high when I'm able to like help people or guide people to get over. The trials and tribulations of figuring out their own fitness journey because everybody struggles. I don't care who you are. We all started from scratch. We all started with nothing.

And figuring out your own body and what works, what doesn't, can be an extremely exhausting and frustrating. Challenge sometimes. Sometimes you just need that little bit of extra guidance or help from people that have the experience or the knowledge to kind of get you over those humps. So that's kind of my whole motivation for doing it.

It's, it's really not for financial gain. If I'm able to get financial gain out of it as kind of like a. A, a side effect of that, then great. Right. You know that, that's awesome. I'm open arms to that as well, but my intention is just to motivate and to drive people to fitness and to use me as kind of their resource for just knowledge in general.

Yeah. And eventually get some merch going, you know? Oh yeah. That's coming soon. Actually. I'm glad you brought that up. I, my wife is big into, she's got the whole cricket, she's had that for years, so she, she does a lot of custom t-shirts and stuff for our family all the time and. Um, I'm actually trying to finalize a logo for my brand and we're gonna start doing all that kinda stuff.

So that's, that's coming down the path. Yeah, we, we could do a collaboration sometime on downfield. Oh yeah. But, um, I was gonna say, it's also great to have such a variety. So like, I've had multiple people on the show talking about fitness all from different angles, and I think with the. You know, I, I hate the word influencer.

I, I really do, but yeah, I do too. No, with like, I wouldn't call you and I influencers, but both of us have been called that, I'm sure you know. Oh, yeah. Um, content creator, all these different titles. Somebody asked me that at the gym. They're like, are you an influencer? I'm like, I've never considered myself influencer.

I content I happened to post my stuff. But yeah, the, the variety is so important. 'cause like, for example. I know everyone who follows my stuff knows I'm a huge David Goggins fan, but there's a lot of people who don't like him. There's a lot of people who think his physique is, is is terrible, but for me.

That's the kind of physique I know I can get with my, with my hypermetabolism, with my body fat percentage, with the amount of cardio I do. Right. Someone like Sam Solich or the Liver King, those huge guys. Um, I, I could never even imagine getting into that and people would say, well, you just need to eat more food.

Yeah. Six meals a day. I have my protein shake is 4,000 calories. Don't tell me to eat more. I'm tired of that. Oh yeah. I'm tired of that advice. I've been hearing that since some people, some people are just hard gators man. It. Yeah. You, you have to figure out what works for you and Yeah. It sounds like you found, I mean, David Goggins, I love his mindset.

I, I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. Like we have totally different methods, but his mindset is awesome. I like, oh yeah. I like how extreme He's Well, and my thing is too, like I've tried the eating, eating, eating, and I never gained weight. Going to the gym and doing, for me, I used to do like 200 reps on every machine.

Lighter weight. Now I switched to 10 reps, uh, of overload weight and I've now, I've gained over 15 pounds, right? So it wasn't about the eating for, it was the way I was working out. And everyone's body is different, right? But I love, like, the connection is different, right? So I have friends who hate dog and style.

They prefer, um. I can't remember his name now, but they have these different influencers on Instagram or these guys who run their own. So, you know, there's like V Shred, there's all these different people and it's like V Shred, your style may be different. Um, like, like you said about, I just bring it up 'cause you talked about is the coaching, is it a good fit personality wise, and that's the biggest thing.

It's like, there's a lot of fitness experts out there. It's a matter of do they convey it in a way you need to hear it. Mm-hmm. You know, 'cause like I talked about. I don't curse, I don't yell. You know, some people love the cursing and yelling style. That's what they need to hear. Right. And some people need to be talked to very gently, you know?

And then same with, I've had women on my show who do fitness very differently. You know, you have women who are very hardcore and, and bodybuilders, or you have women who are very. Leg day flu. And then I've had women who are very focused on cardio and CrossFit. So I think it's just, IM important, you know, whether paid or not.

The reason you put yourself out there is 'cause people just connect differently with different types of content. Yeah, it's the same way. Like there's, there's a hundred podcasts that do the same content I do. It's just the delivery is different, you know? Mm-hmm. So I, I appreciate what you do and I'm sure it'll expand into, into more.

Maybe you have your own podcast one day, you know, maybe, maybe, you know. Um, but with three kids, that can definitely be a, a, a, yeah. Wait, we'll wait till they get a little bit older. Yeah. But, um, so you've kind of told us about your future plans, what you're going through right now in your past, if you had just.

To wrap it all up in one message to people who are trying to get into the fitness journey or people who are in it and struggling, specifically those two audiences, what would you say to them? I would say find somebody for guidance. Um, I, I throw myself out there just because I'm here, but you know people like me.

I'm not selling you a plan. I'm not selling you the information. I literally tell people all the time on my social media, and I'm, I'm sure one day down the road. Hopefully my following is too big to be able to do this. But, you know, DM me, like when I'm in doing live streams and stuff and, and people are asking me really specific detailed questions, I'm like, hey, that's like a almost a conversation we need to have.

So DM me on the side, but I, that's all just, I give that up for free. That's just my time because I just want to help. That's it. So you need to find people like that. Okay. And it might not be me, it might, you know, 'cause there's a lot of people that don't connect with me. Trust me, it's fine. Um, you gotta find the one that you connect with.

And maybe it's social media, maybe it's somebody in your, your actual life, family, friend, whatever. But I think having a resource like to where you're not on your own, that you can bounce ideas off of, ask questions, um, it's extremely helpful, especially when you're talking about what you're talking about when you're going through a period of struggle.

'cause I feel like in the beginning phases of fitness journeys, it's always the mental struggles that. Force people out and, and derail people's plans. Yeah. And the the funny thing is everybody goes through it. A hundred percent of everybody goes through those mental ba battles and struggles. And so when you know that it's easier to like kind of bounce ideas off of people live through other people's already lived experiences, right?

Like I, I, I'm all about like just building community through people because. That's what we're here for, right? Like, don't try to do things on your own. You have people you can reach out to, whether you personally know 'em or not. I mean, social media is ridiculous. There's millions of people that you have access to at the touch of your fingertips.

There's always people that are willing to help. You just have to find 'em and find the ones that work for you and, and use that as your sounding board. I don't think there's anything wrong with. So I gotta say, you know, there's, there, there might be people watching and listening right now who say, Jacob, you know, this is so easy for you to say you're huge.

You're Jacks, you go to the gym, it's your playground. Can you kind of speak on some of the struggles you had when you first started and even now that, that they can relate to. Yeah. So that's a big, big, big thing. And you know, you're exactly right. People look at people like me and they're like, oh, well it's just this, it's just that he's already got it.

Great. And that is a thing. Um, and I've been there as well where I'm like, oh, well this guy, or he doesn't even know what it's like, and it's like, no, I was, I, I was about 80 pounds overweight when I started on my journey about five years ago. Okay. So I was extremely overweight. Um, and I tried to do it on my own and I lost about 30 or 40 of those pounds, I believe, um, on my own, doing little changes and stuff.

And then I ended up having to hire my coach, like I said, to like really get to the level I wanted to get to, but. The struggle was trying to figure it out, right? Like the whole struggle is always trying to figure out, because you, we've talked about this multiple times, your body style and your lifestyle, what works for you, what doesn't?

It's gonna be very different than mine. Very different than the next person. And so the hardest part is figuring out what makes it functional for you. How are you gonna overhaul your lifestyle to where this is something that's doable on a daily basis, especially when you're talking about food. You know, I preach food all the time because food is everything.

Whether you're bulking, cutting, whatever you're trying to accomplish, food is going to give you like 90% of your results no matter what you're doing in the gym. So if. If your food's not on track or you just need help with that, like food should not be miserable either. Like I said, I've been eating the same five meals for years now because I enjoy those five meals.

So for me, it's easy to repeat those meals, but that took time to figure out and that was lots of tweaking and subbing out items of food and figuring out, took months and months and months to really figure out what I enjoyed and what I like. So. There is a, a growth period that is not fun. It's not smooth, it's not easy.

Um, and there's no way to sugarcoat that. That's a, those are challenges that you have to go through. But I'm a firm believer this applies to everything in life. If you're not getting challenged in life. You're never changing, you're not developing, you're not evolving as a person. So putting yourself through those challenges intentionally is a good thing because you're gonna come out better, stronger, more knowledgeable, whatever the case may be, but you're gonna become a better person and a more evolved form of yourself by putting yourself through those challenges.

So I think it's more about the mindset of accepting the challenge and knowing that this is not gonna be easy. You're, you're drastically changing your lifestyle, and that's hard for everybody to do. Especially if you're like me, like I was, the, the beer, the wings, the, the burgers, the fries. Like that was my life, you know, if I went out with friends, we were getting some wings and a couple beers to have fun with, you know, and, and that's, I still enjoy that from time to time, don't get me wrong.

But, um, when that's like, not like a everyday thing and it's only becomes a, in a rare occurrence thing, that's a very tough transition to go through for most people. But it can't be done. You just have to be willing to commit to the process and. Be willing to give yourself patience. Plenty of patience and plenty of time.

That's the main thing. Yeah. And I appreciate you being transparent with all that, especially the getting a coach. 'cause I think a lot of people, especially men, you know, there's a stigma around like, especially when it comes to fitness and being strong, you gotta do it on your own, you know? And that if you get a coach, well, you know, I could think of a lot of words they would call you for, for doing that, right?

Oh yeah. And you know, I won't name them for no reason, but. I think being transparent like you are and people see a guy like you say, Hey, like I didn't get here on my own. You know, I, I, I did work, I did research on my own Yes. To prepare and to get me all the way, you know, I, I got help to, to professionally bodybuilding and compete, you know, and to have a physique that most people would want.

So I appreciate you sharing that. 'cause I'm sure there's plenty of guys out there. Who didn't make it on their own, but they say they did. You know? Yeah. And they, and, and they hide the fact that they, they had a coach or a personal trainer or, or did this, and honestly, without. Research without using social media and, and looking at workouts.

I mean, no one could get there on their own, right? I mean, even if you don't hire a coach, you're still using all these people's videos and, and tutorials and all this stuff, right? So just know that like fitness is a, is a journey. It's a difficult one. It, you don't have to do it alone for the sake of your pride or anything like, I mean, I'd rather look like any kind of business, anything you're trying to accomplish, you should always be looking for the people that have already achieved.

Yeah, what you wanna achieve and, and use them as a resource because they've already lived it, you know, so you might as well learn from their mistakes and, and hopefully you can speed up the process for yourself. Yeah, for sure. And I, I'd rather look like you and say I had a little help than, uh, you know, be, be a week and be, I don't know if I could have done by myself.

I'm making it myself. I really don't. Yeah. But, uh, six times Champion here says, you said hey. Yeah. Um, you gotta, you gotta get, you're gonna have to build a new, uh, room in your house just to put up all the, uh, certificate. I know. I still got 'em all just laid out on my dresser. I haven't even had a chance to like figure it all out yet, but.

Yeah, we're gonna, there's a room down in our basement that that'll, that's gonna be the new bodybuilding room I think. So we'll, we'll figure it out. Yeah. And then eventually when you're old and you got grandkids, it'll be the glory days room where you look at all the, who's that guy? Little days you're like, yeah.

But, um, I appreciate you coming on the show, you know, um, thanks for having me. Well, I'll probably have you back, uh, at some point in the future. Towards a, a, a show whether before or after, um, especially once you launch your coaching business, if that, if that's something that happens for you, but even just to see how things are going and, um, more stuff you, because you've put forward that you're always learning, you know?

And so I'm sure that, um, you'll be learning stuff throughout this next phase of your journey. Oh yeah. And learning never stops, you know, development never stops. Uh. This is something that I'm a big Georgia Bulldog fan and Georgia Bulldog coach, Kirby Smart, he, he says this, that you should always be striving for, for perfection, knowing that you'll never obtain it, which means you never stop working your life.

You should never stop working. You're always trying to reach that, the epitome of your goal. And if you're doing that, you're constantly improving and that's what matters.