The Athletes Podcast
The Athletes Podcast is a leading source of information, inspiration, and education for anyone interested in optimizing physical performance, maintaining good health, and living an active lifestyle. Join David Stark as he interviews some of the world's biggest athletes and fitness professionals, The Athletes Podcast provides practical advice, expert insights, and real-world strategies to help listeners achieve their health and fitness goals.The goal is to entertain, educate & inspire the next generation of athletes!
The Athletes Podcast
Building Perfect Sports with CEO Bruce Colero
Episode #246 features Bruce Colero, the visionary founder of Perfect Sports Supplements. Bruce walks us through his extraordinary transition from a career as a dedicated athlete to a significant player in the sports supplement industry. With over 25 years of experience in fueling athletes, he shares the crucial decision to prioritize building Perfect Sports over pursuing a professional fighting career. While we learn about his headquarters visit during the Ontario tour, Bruce passionately discusses the expansion of Perfect Sports into the US market and the pivotal role it plays in his journey.
This episode isn't just about supplements; it's a heartfelt exploration of the sports industry's profound impact and motivation. Bruce candidly opens up about his mission to inspire young people through mental health support, mentorship, and personal growth. As he reflects on his own drive for financial success and the evolution of his goals, Bruce emphasizes the importance of mental resilience, gratitude, and the potential for greatness within everyone. Discover the demanding daily routine of a committed athlete, the essential nature of recovery, and powerful advice for anyone aspiring to succeed: never give up and ignore the skeptics. Tune in for an episode brimming with insights, motivation, and valuable life lessons from Bruce Colero.
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Let's just say I pop you in the face right now. Your nose is going to bleed and you're going to be like fuck, my nose hurts. Why is it hurting? Because I punched you in the face.
Speaker 2:Hey, what's up, welcome back. This is the 246th episode of the Athlete's Podcast. Today we're featuring Bruce Calero, founder of Perfect Sports Supplements. We got to travel up to the headquarters, see everyone in person, meet the team, try out some products. It was an amazing time, part of the Ontario tour that I just came back from, and was a doozy of an episode. Bruce is a passionate individual.
Speaker 2:Folks, make sure to bring out your earmuffs If you are worried about vulgar language, swearing. There might be a couple bombs dropped in this episode. That's all I'm going to say, and I am also going to say that this pumpkin spice latte flavored diesel protein powder is phenomenal. And for those of you who like to enjoy a little PSL sometimes during the day in your coffee, try mixing in a scoop of diesel protein into your morning coffee. Oh my gosh, all the same flavors, yet an additional 27 grams of protein. Who wouldn't want that? And the benefits that come with additional protein in your diet. Use the code AP20 at checkout, save 20%, and you're going to see the benefits yourself. Let me know what you think, what flavors you end up buying.
Speaker 2:Before we get into this episode, about 20, 25 minutes in length, I do have to remind you, folks who are new here, who haven't subscribed yet you have one job here and that is if you are listening, watching, wherever you're consuming this content, you are required to subscribe. It's an athlete agreement. I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. And if you're watching right now, hit that subscribe button. Thank you.
Speaker 2:And now let's get to the episode 246, featuring Bruce Calero. Here we go. You're the most decorated racquetball player in US history World. Here we go, national champions. This is the Athletes Podcast, where high-performance individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to educate, entertain and inspire the next generation of athletes. Here we go, here we are, live now at Perfect Sports Headquarters with Bruce Calero. Thank you for coming on the podcast. My pleasure, dude. This is going to be fun. I am honored to be able to highlight your story both from an athletic standpoint and the fact you've been fueling people for over two and a half decades now with diesel products. Perfect Sports has been scaling US expansion. Where do you want to start this conversation? Because we could go anywhere over the next 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:This is your game. Let's do it your way. Okay, okay so start from the beginning.
Speaker 2:I have to say you've got great fucking hair.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank Okay, okay, so start from the beginning.
Speaker 2:I have to say you've got great fucking hair. Thank you, thank you. I was hoping that that was where we would start this conversation Good for you. I almost got a cut before this.
Speaker 1:It's fucking dope hair. Hey, I've got a marathon Sunday, nice.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping that this doesn't cause any aerodynamic issues, but you'll look good doing it.
Speaker 1:So who gives a fuck really Exactly, and you know what we got Diesel.
Speaker 2:Sports that I've been consuming probably for probably five, ten years now. Thank you, steve was my first introduction to Perfect Sports down in St Catharines, yeah, yeah, and he was one of the original sponsors of the Athletes Podcast and through conversations, that's where Diesel Perfect Sports has been a proud supporter, and now we get to highlight your athletes, we get to consume your athletes, we get to consume your incredible products. How long have you been consuming perfect sports? How long have you been an athlete? Because you've been rolling on the mats for decades I started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been trained since I've been 15 so I'm 56 and um supplementation has always been a part of it. And what prompted me to get in this industry is I was training and I was preparing for to fight in pride right, and at the same time I had five pro shops in around Toronto and I had to decide if I was going to fight professionally or if I was going to put my emphasis on the stores. And then eventually, what I did is I took all the money that I made, I sold the stores and I put it into developing my own line, and the first line was called Supreme Supplements and for various reasons, I had to stop that and that transitioned into Perfect Sports. And here we are today.
Speaker 2:Your book that just came out. Your proceeds went to Kids help phone. Yes, Can you talk about the impact that you've been able to have on people, not just from a supplement, from a motivational standpoint?
Speaker 1:See, that's always a weird thing for me because, you know, over the last several years I've had people come up to me and say that I motivate them, or they look at me as a mentor, and I'd never really understood that and it's, it's a great honor and it's something I take very, very seriously. And there is, we have a couple of doctors on the advisory board for perfect, and I was at dinner with one of the doctors and his publicist and he's like you know, your, your mindset is very appealing and people should hear that. He's like you should write a book. So I'm like, okay and simple, the reason why we donate the money is because, let's just say, I pop you in the face right now. Your nose is going to bleed and you're going to be like fuck, my nose hurts. Why is it hurting? Because I punched you in the face.
Speaker 1:But people that are struggling with mental health, quite often they don't know what's wrong with them and they struggle, and I and I have a number of friends that you know deal with anxiety or depression and that's it's fucking brutal. So to me it was important, especially kids, because they have so much potential within them and sometimes they don't feel like they're enough, and it's important to me that you know if I can touch someone, like not in a P Diddy kind of way, but in a way that motivates them, that makes them believe that they're capable of much more, cause I truly believe, like that's why everything to me is about be great, because we have such fucking potential within us and and to squash that or to feel like you're you're not capable to me is is fucking travesty. We are capable of so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a. It's funny you say that because over the past five years, almost 250 guests on this show. That has been consistent every single week, week in and week out. People, people, everyone's created the same. Some people work harder than others, right?
Speaker 1:Fuck this victim bullshit too. Like, honestly, I'm so fucking tired of people embracing that victimhood because it gives you an allowance to be weaker. It just gives you the allowance to be less than you can be, like. We all have our trials, dude, and it's that embracing of discomfort that allows us to rise up and be great.
Speaker 2:have you always had this mentality, yes, always born with it.
Speaker 1:Parents instilled it I don't know if it was instilled by my family or or circumstance. I mean, there's all often the common, uh, the discussion of nature versus nurture, but I I just think that I've always had this drive to be something special and in the beginning I'm not gonna lie I was motivated by I want to be, I want to make money, and then, once you have a certain amount of money, that's not important anymore. The money will come. I think if you have the ability to motivate people, I think if you have the ability to help people, the universe demands that you do it. You owe it. If you've been very fortunate in your life, you fucking owe and I owe.
Speaker 2:Who are those people that you were looking up to when you grew up, when you were growing up inspired by nobody really Like I.
Speaker 1:I get that question a lot. I mean, in my attempt to be better and better myself, I read various motivational books and really the message is the same, universally right. I think the problem with people is they either don't believe they can do it or they're afraid of what happens if they do do it. The fear of success is almost as crippling as the fear of failure happens if they do do it. The fear of success is almost as crippling as the fear of failure. And again, that comes down to battling your own demons. Right, and some people can rise up faster than others, but we are all capable of rising up and moving forward.
Speaker 2:Have you read the book relentless?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I'm reading a lot of books right now. I've subscribed to audio books and then I've also subscribed to the condensed versions of books.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:So because otherwise I'm just scrolling on the fucking internet and I succumb to those rage bait accounts. When they say the stupidest shit, I'm like fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you right Over. The dumbest shit. Right Like Empire Strikes Back is not the greatest Star shit, I'm like fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you right over. The dumbest shit. Right like empire strikes back is not the greatest star wars movie.
Speaker 1:Fuck you, fuck you right so but, um, yeah, I, I try and better myself, and I think that's something we should all strive on all levels intellectually, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and spiritually can be whatever that means to you, right?
Speaker 2:the uh, the uh. I only bring up the book. It's one you should add to your list, cause it's right up your alley, but it talks about the greats Kobe, michael Jordan, the difference between cleaners versus closers, and the fact that you need to know what your role is and what other people's capabilities are and where to put them, and I feel like you've been able to do that here. People's capabilities are and where to put them, and I feel like you've been able to do that here. You've assembled a team. How many here are at Perfect Sports?
Speaker 1:headquarters Between the two companies are about 70, 75 people.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. Did you think that was going to be the case in 97 when you started?
Speaker 1:Not, even where I am in my mind. This is how I think. In my mind, I'm already farther ahead than where I am right now. So in my mind, the universe has to catch up with what I deem to be reality, and that's something that, for whatever reason how fucked up that is I that came to me at a very, very early age. I was all. I was always in the future. I always saw what it is that I wanted and I fucking there was no way that I was not going to get what I wanted. And that's the thing, right.
Speaker 1:If everybody has their goals and you just have to figure out how to get there and it's never going to be an easy line, a straight line you got to deviate, you got to pivot and you got to make adjustments in your plan. But as long as you keep moving forward, no matter if it's inches or feet you will ultimately get to your goal. But people have to understand that there's always a price for achieving that goal. Nothing is free in life and if you're willing to pay that price and that price could be losing friends, losing family, losing time, potentially losing health, right you need to obsess and fucking make sure that what it is you want, you're going to get that.
Speaker 2:Is there anything? Okay? So power of visualization, then, is obviously something that you're enacting. Um Aaron Volpatti, nhl player, played for the Vancouver Canucks Washington Capitals, suffered third degree burns on like 40% of his body. Two, three months later he was back playing hockey, told he may never walk again. So the power of visualization is very real. Obviously, you're using that to your success. Where is that If you're already ahead? What does that dream look like? Is it a hundred plus people?
Speaker 1:Is it global domination? I want to be number one, and not for the money. It's not about the money anymore. I'm comfortable, I don't need it but it's for um, Everybody involved. We are all striving to be like. Honestly, that whole statement about I want to be better than I was yesterday Okay, fucking cool, but if you're not doing it to be the best there is, I think you're wasting your fucking time, Right? So Perfect Sports will be the number one sports brand in the world. Like I've seen it. There's no way that's not happening. I will fucking go through everybody in my way.
Speaker 2:I just got the tour from Mel. That warehouse is chock full of products.
Speaker 1:And we're opening one in the States too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Can you talk about that expansion? What?
Speaker 1:that's looked like. So we had to make sure that everything was in compliance with the FDA and now all our all our labels are FDA approved and we have a number like amazoncom, gnccom. We have a number of distributors in the States. We will also be shipping to other countries through our hub in the States. So it took a while and it was fucking frustrating and costly, but we are now ready to proceed full force into the States.
Speaker 2:And what do you think that's going to come with? 10 times the population of Canada, obviously, but it's going to be more popularity.
Speaker 1:But again, I like the, the marketing of it, I like the, just being able to reach so many people and impart a message. That I think is important and what's more important, that, like a lot of people are posers right, they they talk a game or they talk about why they do. This is inherently me. I've always had this mindset and I think especially today.
Speaker 2:People need to know that they are capable of doing some incredible shit. Yeah, I completely agree. Nine months ago I was not a runner. I'm now running a marathon in two days.
Speaker 1:Okay, there you go, yeah, right, and let's just say you run and you do shit, it doesn't fucking matter, man. What matters is that you had a goal to run this marathon and you took all the steps necessary, both from a physical perspective, a training perspective, nutritional perspective and you reached that goal. So to me, you're already a fucking winner, regardless of how you do in that race. It's same same with our fighters, right? Um, there are companies that if you don't perform well, they kick you out.
Speaker 1:That's not it for me, the. The goal for me is especially in fighting, and I've been fighting like all my life. It is not the win or lose, because one of my coaches said to me a line that I'll never forget he goes, you either win or you learn. So the, the winning or the losing. Obviously we all want to win, but that's not the, the end result, that's not the sole purpose, it's the goal, it's the training, it's putting yourself in a, in a mindset that, like for me, everything is a fight. For me, the competition it's a fight, it's um that's what drives me.
Speaker 2:You're the cleaner they talk about in the, in those books. You're the cleaner. But I can confirm that because you work with a dozen of our athletes at cook stark management, our female athlete agency, and I can confidently say every single month we have our athletes who are showcasing, using your products and performing better thanks to them and see that's important to me.
Speaker 1:Like, fuck the money. Okay, it's the fact that athletes are, they have a specific goal, and for me to shortchange them or for them to actually decide and trust in what we have to offer, dude, that's a huge fucking gift. Like that's so important. I am fucking truly honored that they've decided to use perfect sports yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's hundreds of brands out there right and uh, there's only one diesel.
Speaker 2:There's only one top protein powder in canada. That's diesel, and I also have. I just love the brand before we even started working together, which is cool because, to your point, you're supporting people at the beginning, middle and end of their progress. So I the fact that you've been able to both do all of this and then also do some philanthropic work is amazing. I just wanted to highlight that more than anything. Um, the other part that you talked about there is like athletes performing their best. You talked with Jay. You guys are working on building out the best products. How do you go about making sure that you have the best formulas, the best products?
Speaker 1:Because I don't fucking cheat, I don't. I there's, it's 27 grams of protein per scoop. Let's just say I shortchange that, which is notorious in this fucking industry, I might add, but let's just say I put 21 grams in there. You're never going to know the difference. Physiologically you're not going to know the difference. Physically you're not going to know the difference. But I'll make way more money with that five extra grams per scoop of savings. But morally I can't do that. I just, I just can't fuck you like that. You're trusting me, you're giving me your hard earned money and I would just be a piece of shit to do something like that. I can't do it. So for us, we design products that are required Like. What purpose are we filling by bringing out this product? There are a number of like. We have, I think, just coming out in the first quarter of 25, I think we have six or seven new products coming out. Um.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask. Aaron couldn't give me full details, but I figured you might be able to share some. Yeah, I mean why?
Speaker 1:I don't want to tell you, because all fucking competition's gonna listen to this and they're gonna be like holy fuck, bruce is doing this. We need to do this too. We have some really really cool products coming out and um, but more importantly, we have an ad campaign starting january 1st. That's never been done in this industry and I'm not just talking fucking Canada, I'm talking North America. This is massive for us.
Speaker 2:What do you like seeing most when it comes to athletes? Improve their performance by using your products.
Speaker 1:That alone. That's the gift right, the very fact that they feel that I've somehow added to their game. Holy. What's better than that, man, fuck the money.
Speaker 2:What does your day look like? What products are you using when you train? Okay, so.
Speaker 1:I wake up like probably seven, 38.
Speaker 2:Are you just scooping altered right away? It looks like you've got a little something in your system.
Speaker 1:I'm a pretty hyper guy. So, um, in the more so I train, I have private coaches Tuesday, wednesday, thursdays and Fridays for either JITS, mma wrestling or Valley to Dome. So that's my private lessons Monday, tuesday to Friday, and then six days a week I train strength and conditioning. So in the morning I'll wake up and I'll do my strength and conditioning. I'll wake up, I'll do whatever it is from a strength and conditioning perspective. I'll take a pre before that, either burn cycle or altered. After that I'll do my ice bath or I'll do some red light therapy and an ice bath. But I always do an ice bath in the morning. That's very important for me. And then I'll have my breakfast high in protein. I'll have a diesel protein shake with it, and then I'll have my breakfast high in protein. I'll have a diesel protein shake with it, and then later on, before I train in the martial art perspective, I'll take another pre. So yeah, I'm highly caffeinated dude.
Speaker 2:Hey, that's what it takes when you're running an organization 70 plus people.
Speaker 1:Dude, I've got an easy life. It's these people who take really, really good care of me in order for me to do what I like my training and shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I can, I can say that confidently working with Mel and Aaron firsthand. You know the whole team from top to bottom, even the guys in the warehouse, right they're all family to me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like everybody in here, is equally important. I could play the role about. You know, I'm the owner. I'm more important than you. Fuck you Like, no right. Everybody contributes. Everybody is important to me.
Speaker 2:What else is important to you outside of perfect sports, outside of training, like what gets you excited? Um, I also have to say recently congratulations, thank you. I should have started this whole conversation off with that. But yes, I recently got engaged.
Speaker 1:Jackie, I love you. Yeah, I got engaged. She's a great woman. I think, by surrounding yourself by people with the same mindset, right, which is like everybody here has the same mindset, everybody wants to be number one, right, I have a good woman, she's awesome. I have, I'm, I'm, I'm blessed, dude, and that's why I feel that I owe, because I've been so fortunate in my life. Uh, I have a good support around me, so, um, I owe the universe.
Speaker 2:Do you listen to Joe Dispenza? Dr Joe Dispenza, have you heard that name? He's a visualization guys as well. I'm going to send you some of this stuff. I love it.
Speaker 1:I just fucking love life, dude, like there's so much to be you Listen, you can either choose to look at things from a negative perspective things are shit or you can choose to look at things with maybe they're not great, but there's the potential for it, for it to be better. So for me, life is fucking great.
Speaker 2:I love that. We just need to clip that and have that role every morning, because people need to realize that, become more aware of how fortunate they are For sure, man, no matter how shit your life is right now, there's fucking a thousand people that will gladly change your fucking place.
Speaker 1:So fucking gratitude is very important to me. One of the other things I do in the morning is I go out into my backyard because I'm a huge believer in cold therapy training, right. So I live up by the lake. It's probably about zero degrees, so before I go in the ice bath, I'll go out and I'll thank the universe for giving me everything that I have. Right, I have gratitude.
Speaker 2:You have to have gratitude you get your grounding in bare feet. I do my grounding, brother. It's so good people underestimate it.
Speaker 1:I don't know the science behind it, I can't explain it, but it feels good so when I do my red light therapy training, like I have the panels, I'm standing on a grounding mat. So I do the ice therapy training. I have an infrared sauna, I have a steam sauna, I have a dry sauna and you ever try those acupuncture mats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do those too Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I train like a motherfucker. I'm 56 and I'm fighting 20 to 30 year olds yeah, so I need. I need to recover man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people don't realize there's actually a huge difference between the top performers. And it's not the training Everyone does the training, it's the recovery afterwards, it's your nutrition.
Speaker 1:It's your sleep, it's those big rocks. Oh 100, dude. If I don't get good enough sleep, I'm a cranky bitch. Yeah, then it starts to affect me. If I get subsequent days of lack of sleep, it fucks me up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's our greatest superpower. It's arguably the best free supplement available and sunlight in the morning, circadian rhythms right brother, yeah and at night. Actually it's really good for that melatonin production post, but anyway, this is like again been a lot of fun, thank you the way we wrap up every episode is we ask our guests their biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes. Now you've dropped some gold. If you could narrow it down to one thing Never quit.
Speaker 1:Fuck everybody else, fuck anybody who says you can't do it, you can do it. Never quit.
Speaker 2:He understood the assignment. Bruce, thanks for coming on the pod.
Speaker 1:Thank you, brother. Appreciate it, man. This is great.
Speaker 2:Thank you, hey. Thanks, folks for tuning in. What a doozy of an episode. You can tell the guy's in great shape. I am grateful to have Perfect Sports as a partner here with the Athletes Podcast, be able to consume the best supplements on the market. And I just want to say thank you to you folks for tuning in to this episode and for continuing to come back week over week. It means the world to me. I hope you're enjoying. Let me know who you want to see down below next on the Athletes Podcast. And I hope you're enjoying. Let me know who you want to see down below next on the athletes podcast, and I hope you have a great rest of your week. Take care, I love you. Bye.
