AFL to Boss: Zac Langdon's Story of Chasing Dreams #533

So not rugby , not rugby league or soccer , it's AFL , the one where they're playing on the round pitch and insane athletes Like it's the most wild game of all time . But so you played AFL at the top level . I'd love to hear a bit more about your journey getting into the big leagues and what it took , and I'll ask some questions along the way .

And I'd never tried my luck in , I suppose , at the highest level and I was at that age where it was either now or never . So , yeah , I moved down to Perth with my partner at the time , ellie , now wife . She got out to El .

In America ? It's like a second league almost . Yeah .

Yeah , kind of had a kind of had a bit of a yeah , I suppose some news that and a situation where was he don't expect to go through when you're 19 , 20 years old and unfortunately , yeah , just before the draft , my wife Ellie was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma , so obviously a type of cancer that affects your lymph nodes .

Yeah for us obviously so lucky to get onto it early . But , you know , having to make a decision of what to do because obviously our draft and similar to you know , over in the States , you actually don't know where you're going to end up , so we could have ended up in Perth or Melbourne or or wherever . So , yeah , we were kind of into minds at the time .

After , obviously , hearing the news , I stepped away from the draft for a while and , yeah , we kind of had a really , you know , on an open conversation of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do and what was going to be best for us .

And yeah , to this day and I know this about Ellie like probably the most selfless person in the world , but to me and I stand by that and yeah , she kind of just , you know , said to me like this is your dream , this is why we moved down . You know it's going to be what's going to be able to support us going forward .

And yeah , we had a kind of decision to make whether I was going to go back into the draft or stay in Perth . So we ended up starting in and I got drafted over to Sydney . So the other side of Australia .

I always sort of beat around the bush a lot and that's what got me into a bit of bit of trouble in the younger years . So to hear that you yourself and Ellie had these mature , what I would consider mature conversations around your future and what's best for you guys in a relationship is mind blowing . Where did you , where did you learn that ?

Yeah , that just blows my mind .

And yeah , like I was no safe , believe me , I was yeah before that , like you know , and still do love having a good time with my mates and everything like that . And yeah , it was just one of those times where it was like , yeah , we actually need to stop here and make a decision that's gonna impact us going forward .

And I think at that time it probably forced me to grow up a lot . And yeah , probably before my years , I'd say .

And I guess there's a lot of unknowns with cancer as well , right Like there's . You don't know what the hell is going on with it . They can give their diagnosises , but you know it's still . Every individual is different . So how did you sort of balance the excitement and everything like that but also be be present and , I guess , compassionate to Ellie ?

We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring , so let's go in with today and do the best we can with what we had . Yeah , fortunately enough , the club the GWS Giants , where I got drafted there unbelievable club , unbelievable people , the support there as well . And , yeah , we just chose to see it like that .

You literally got to live every day like we weren't to know what results we were going to get . And yeah , we were so fortunate enough to obviously have the support around us , both here and back in Perth , that just allowed us to kind of live like that and just take every day as it came .

And , yeah , fortunately enough for us , eli was able to get the all clear after a few months and move over . So , yeah , it was absolutely as ever .

But yeah , it's , I suppose when you have a kid or make a big move in life , like you have over in the States and having a partner as well , having that balance just between family , work , obviously fitness and your other goals , it's definitely something that's like it is the best feeling ever being a dad and constantly learning every day of how to be a better

father and , obviously , husband . Yeah , also still saying it's like so passionate about what I'm interested in as well , because I do want to set the best example for him and Ellie as well . And obviously , yeah , try and build my business where I want it to go .

What was the football career like ? Some lessons , I guess challenges as well . Contact sport doesn't come without its challenges , that's for sure .

I remember day one of preseason probably went out there trying to impress and I remember the first drill was basically just quick hands and I've blown myself up and want a bit of recovery lap and I was just thinking I don't know if I'm cut out for this yet . Yeah , straight to a three car . Like day one I think I went home and slept for about 16 hours .

But yeah , the training loads obviously increase so much which , obviously , being a first year , they're pretty good with easing you into it in a certain way . But easing into it you're still rolling around 30 , 50K weeks , which to a runner wouldn't seem that much , but when it's changed direction , tackling a lot of its sprint work , it's quite high .

Oh yeah , that's brutal . I think I saw every day for about six months .

I remember , because this went to look at NRL clubs and all that sort of stuff , I went back to the local club in Tombow and I still remember I was shopping around for clubs . This is how I was back in the day . We went to all the different clubs and we're like yeah , this is the deal .

I remember talking to the captain at one of the clubs , sam Hanna , and he's a good mate now , but he would have been 28 and I was 18 , 19 . He's like , oh mate , we're looking forward to having you at the club and everything like that . I'm just seeing how much we get paid first before I decide .

I remember saying that and I laugh about it now I was such a little my head I wasn't doing it for the right reasons , because I was back home . I was just like , oh mate , I made some money . But then you realise as well , even at that level , they belted me . You're 18 , you're still not fully developed .

You've got a lot to learn and I think that's a lesson I've learnt for life is whenever you think you've got something put together or figured out , you're literally one step away from a humbling experience where you're like okay , I'm not as good as I thought I was .

The fans are just so passionate and it's like the English football where they just really get around the club . What was it like for you running out that first match ?

You know the press comes down , you do a big interview , you know , obviously everyone from back homes finds out flies over . So I suppose that week for me was it actually it probably hit home to just go . I'm actually going to debut and play my first game of AFL . Like this is this is my dream .

And if it meant I played one game , like obviously you know at the time it's like if I play one game I feel I'm going to be so happy , yeah , so to know that I was actually going to play . Like the rest of that way I was like do not , do not get injured . Just anybody contact , get away .

I was pretty nervous . I remember one of the boys went to me and had about 20 meters clear and ball went straight through . My hands went to turn around , run after it tripped over and then turn the ball over . So it was a good start .

I fell flat , who I was lucky enough to play with him and very good mates with now . And he came up to me and me knew I'd probably be a little bit rattled and we just said , mate , I've had , I've had halves where I haven't touched the footy at all , and then going out and kick six in the third , so it's all good .

So I went out there , mate , and yeah , it changed the mindset around and ended up being able to kick on myself and yeah , I still remember that feeling locals yesterday .

So what was it like you having jazz doing that ?

So he shared the lockers next to each other and , yeah , everything you said , whether it was right or wrong , I'll probably listen to , and I spent a lot of time out the boat within fishing . So , oh man , what a dream . Yeah , yeah , if you're not , if you're not posting on that , get on the outdoor athlete . Yeah , he's a good man .

I don't know whether you took it for granted , but I know it for me with my footy and I think like that , I definitely took it for granted , and Even to my business . Now you know the position . I mean , I'm like this is what I wanted five years ago . Now I've got it and it's not enough and I don't do what I said I would do and I have that .

So for your from your career , did you experience that after that first game ?

But I Think , as people we aspire to , you know so much more and constantly you look into improvement and I think it's a great trait to have to be honest , I'm also loving loving we're out at the moment as well and and loving the journey rather than just seeing it as an outcome . But I suppose to your question , it was , yeah , 100% once .

That first game was , you know , done . It was . It was very much to alright , let's win it , let's win a premiership , let's . You know , I want to be in all Australian football , I want to be the best forward in the game .

So , yeah , the goalpost shifted pretty quickly also , you know , still being so , you know , in the moment , and absolutely loving it and knowing that my second game was gonna be the MCG in front of , you know , 80,000 fans , yeah , it's . It's one of those things you kind of just you gotta set massive goals , which I did .

But also just what you said just try and love and live in the present as much as possible and enjoy it .

What would you advice would you have given to yourself ? You know , 18 year old Zach . What advice would you give to yourself ?

Yeah , and I think , if , if you get those opportunities , or even if you don't have the opportunities , make the opportunities and don't expect that that's just gonna happen for you . And yeah , it's so cliche to say that If you want something bad enough , you'll make it happen , like I truly , I honestly , truly believe in that lock .

I think for yourself , like you've obviously just moved to the States , you've made massive risks in , in heading over there , or get risks , if you want to call it that . Or you know , yeah , really yeah , you give up so much like I'm , you know , living up in damp , you're Moving down with .

You know , basically zero dollars to my name and it sounds like you know for me or whatever . But and I'm not saying that at all but To leave , like leave a stable job and lower to chase , something that you're so passionate about .

It's it is the best learner and teacher and I think it's that's what fills your car and and that's what you're so passionate about , like you'll make it happen 100% . So , yeah , if there's any aspiring young you know , football was all you know marathon runners or athletes like just go chase it , like who cares . Yeah , I agree with you 100% .

I'm very grateful that I didn't have this silver spoon handed to me , because you see some people who do that and they really struggle with adversity and when you're taking the risk yourself , whether it is moot and the risk looks different for everyone .

So when you're moving away from family or support networks or you don't have cash with you , like that is a fucking huge risk . But at the end of the day and I would say for most people listening to this , and I even said to myself , is that worst case .

I've had some awesome experiences of learning a bucketload and I'll be able to go back and crash on my parents you know couch , yeah , which hopefully doesn't come to that .

But mom and dad , if you're listening and I'm coming back , coming back Did you notice any significant , I guess , changes or shifts in your mindset when you went from obviously playing that first game to now ? I want to be the best forward in the game .

It's that imposter syndrome , I think , like you hear about that , where it's like , geez , I don't find out that I'm actually not the school locker . I might have kicked two on the weekend , but she's that was really lucky .

I find it here in the US the culture is extremely different with this tall poppy syndrome . But if you look at the most successful people in any industry whether it's business , sport , creatives they back themselves and to the average punter it's very easy to say , oh , they're cocky or they're up themselves .

But in order to get something that you haven't yet sorry , not yet achieved , you have to back yourself . Which means when someone says , do you think you can do it , you go yeah .

When I wrote 30 marathons in a row last year , I thought I'd have heaps of support from friends and people that follow me and stuff , and literally I reckon I had a handful of people that were like , yeah , you're going to kill it , even like . One of my closest mentors was like mate , I give you seven marathons and you're done . And I was like fuck .

And then they're like what do you reckon ? I was like I got it easy , I'm not even worried . I know it would be challenging , but I've done the work .

I always come back to my certainty , and I would imagine yours as well as that comes back to I know what I do every single day to perform my best and because I've done the work , I'm very confident in what I'm going to . You know what my output could be .

There's always going to be variables that could change that , but 99% of the time it's like I've done the work and if I haven't , I'm not going to say I've done it . Oh yeah , easy with that . So I think it's an interesting one for people to think about .

Is if you're holding yourself back because you're not projecting what you want or what you think you're capable of , because you're worried about how people are going to perceive , you fucking drop it . So you back yourself , mate 100% .

And I'll have the exact same thing of you know you can't do it . You probably pass your draft and if we choose to listen to you know that and just be happy with you know , like you said , if you got to seven marathons again , oh , you know he was probably right , it is getting pretty hard and just gave up there , you've already set that mindset .

You know the work you put in behind closed doors , like you said , and it's only I think it's only up to us to , you know , shut out half of that noise , even if it is coming from people that we care about so much . With all due respect , you know , because you know our closest friends and family . They're only looking out for us .

But I think , you know , for high achievers or not , when we set out a goal , it's one of those things that we commit to and I'm very much someone that you know the way you do . One thing is the way you do a lot of things or everything . And , yeah , I think you , coming from a sporting background as well , you know that .

You know when you say you're going to do something , you commit , no matter how hard it gets .

That's a live and breathe , being successful in football . So how was that ? How was your , I guess , transition out of it and what was that like ?

But looking at it now , honestly , the best you know thing that could have happened , you know , for me and I don't say that something that I look back at now and be like , geez , what if I definitely do at the start , and probably due to that reason of that identity , and I think , when you're playing at the highest level and I suppose you know you're flying

around in planes and you know getting flying to games , you know you meet all the fans you know which I was lucky enough and grateful to meet .

You know so many great people within , you know the AFL systems and you do you identify yourself as you know football , or you know an NRL player , or you know a league NBA player , and then at the end of it , well , yeah , at the end of last year , it was kind of like who am I without AFL ? Because obviously , everywhere you go , it's all that's .

You know that's up . Or this is Zach . You know he plays for the GO vs Giants or West Coast Eagles and after that was okay , this is Zach and that's it . Yeah , just like full stop , yeah , and you're kind of going to introduce yourself as who you are , and XL AFL player doesn't sound as cool as current AFL player , unfortunately .

And so for me , I think , the unbelievable times I had in the AFL and to this day , five years , I'm so blessed and grateful to be in that system the people I've met I've got best mates for life and probably grown up so much in that time as well and yes , I kind of knew with everything that I'd probably learned that I wanted to stay in that space of kind

of helping other people reach their own goals and helping those going through adversity really Really step out of the other side , but not just step out of the other side but be twice as good as they were mentally and physically to attack new goals .

That was kind of my big driver and , yeah , probably leads into a bit of why I kind of started my own business in that and something that I'm so passionate about now and really no feels mock up .

Because once again , you know like a few AFL players and stuff in their transition they've gone into like employment or various other things because they're used to the structure and a lot of people life destruction , understanding what they're doing and the paycheck and all that .

But you're obviously when you start your own business , it's a bit you can do what you want really , but your results are determined by what you do . So it's a bit hard to fuck around . You got to make things work . So that transition , tell us a bit more about your business and what you've learned so far .

So , yeah , my online business and I do like a lot of in person as well it's a kind of like a coaching business with fitness , nutrition and mentoring as well , and I suppose it started with just I was posting a lot of my own kind of workouts and what I did day to day .

Obviously , I love to , you know , still , you know , work out and working towards a few new goals , which I'd love to speak about very shortly , which I'm really excited about . But , yeah , it kind of started out like that , and then I had a fair few people reach out and kind of be interested in what I was doing , you know , training wise .

So I started , you know , obviously , writing programs for those people and , yeah , probably thought , you know , I could , I could make this work on a larger scale . You know , I wanted to do it right , though , and not just have generic programs where I'd send them out and away you go .

It was , yeah , I wanted to fully support everyone that I had on board , create a , you know , an online community and team and just , you know , develop those relationships . So for me now it's . You know I write a lot of fitness programs , more so hybrid . So you know running and lifting just because I'm massive , yeah , I just for me .

I just see a massive benefit in it and always have between running and lifting . We'll see coming from footy . And then , yeah , obviously nutrition plays a massive part in that and obviously the mentoring space which you know . You obviously attest to that and you know you're a well above .

You know so many in that area , so I suppose you know an insight on how you're going with that . It's probably you know better to talk about . But yeah , that's where my business is at at the moment and it's constantly growing every day and learning with that . So it's exciting times .

But when I recognized that you could have something that you're extremely passionate about and were doing anyway , and you could get paid for it and you could scale it to fit into , you know , a pretty cool lifestyle , that's when I was like this is the golden ticket , like this is fucking awesome .

I remember when , you know , when I was finishing school and I was down the coast between footy and mom's like you should do a , do a PT course as well , just in case it doesn't work out , and I was like nah , she's like John , so I did that as well and I was very lucky .

But I always looked at training and coaching as a career for people who couldn't get real jobs and I had like a nine like 18 , 18 , yeah , man , it's wild 18 month window where I was like , nah , I'm not doing it , I'm not doing it .

And then eventually it just clicked much like for you , and you realize I felt like an outsider for so long because I didn't go down the uni route or I didn't want to . You know , did do a trade as well , but didn't want to work in that space .

And then when I was just like I can't believe I'm getting paid to stay fit and like help people live better lives , that sounds too good to be true . Yeah , it does , like you've hacked the matrix . And then it's just like every other aspect of your life really picks up from that .

But I think I love what you're doing , man , and I love when you see people who are focused on fitness , but also the mindset , nutrition , because I don't believe you can be successful in one of those areas without the other . Like mindset is and what's going on up here is so important for how you believe yourself . You know most people .

I feel I believe everyone should think of themselves as an athlete , because when I picture an athlete , I pick to you right , like playing AFL . It's like you're training well , recovering well , eating well . Therefore you're performing at your best . So I'm like , well , I want to perform at my best as a business owner or as a husband .

I might as well treat myself like an athlete as well and worry about what I you know how I recover , because I'm going to do all those things really well , and that's just that identity shift that , you know , I think a lot of people lack when they're doing their training or when they're doing their nutrition .

We look on there and I think the thought of comparison for a lot of people is why they don't start and just be like , how can I reach that level ? And they don't actually think like we're all starting from a different position and it's such a thief of like joy .

I even look on , you know , instagram , right , and you know , say , I had to run this morning and I know I'm building back from a stress fracture , but I'll see someone else do a 15 K run and instantly , it's just why do we are ? Yeah , do I go out and do another 10 or and I don't know ?

I mean it's just like it's one of those ones that you just got to . You've got to set your own goals .

That and not that they have to be small or large , and I'm all for setting a massive goal and going for that , but setting your own goals that suit into what you're doing and where you're at and not comparing because , yeah , like I said , we're all athletes and trying to find that balance .

And you know , I suppose for me now it's trying to find that balance between , you know , my little boy , you know my wife Ellie , family business , and then also you know my new goals of wanting to be and again it might sound cocky , but wanting to go professionally .

But then I want to try and make the Aussie team again for obstacle course racing again next year , because I've got like I feel like I've got unfinished business there . Yeah .

When you get so close to doing so well at an international level or a national level , you want to complete that before you move on .

Or I'm going into this higher accident and I'm going all the way . Again , it sounds so cocky , but I just think I'm someone that commits to it 100% and I have to . That's downfall .

I've worked out all of that and I've never done it . I'm like I know I can do this split , I can do this split , I can do that splits . If I can put it together , I'll be competitive Once again . I could be completely mistaken .

However , knowing what I know about my body and the numbers that I've got from all the years of training , I feel pretty good about it . Therefore , I carry that certainty based off the experiences that I've got .

I think for myself it's more going in there to win , yeah , yeah , making sure that when I am training for these events it's going in there to do the best I can and not just taking part .

If you maybe have , for example , me with the guitar , it's already gone , but me trying to play music , as opposed to my wife who does it for a living it's chalk and cheese . I don't play to go . I'm going to be one day rocking out a stadium or whatnot . I'm just happy playing in the guitar in the lounge .

I think people set that base off the experiences that they have . When you're . I love the fact . Nothing excites me more than people like myself or myself when they finish one career . But there's opportunity to go probably in something else . It's not like you're done . There's the next thing .

I think that what you've experienced puts you in a very good position to clean up in these next goals of yours .

If you haven't checked him out , anyone who's listening hasn't checked out Nate Smith . I can't bore some . So he was my top four in Spotify this year . I was like , oh man , nate was my number four this year . He's like , dude , I'll get him on the podcast . So he's coming around next week . I was like , fuck , yeah , and that's how it starts . It's just like .

That's why I love having a podcast . You get to meet so many cool people who learn about their life and their stories , their challenges and all of that sort of stuff . But not enough about me , man . Back to the goal . Obviously you wanted to do well in higher ups in the Ironman , which goes the priority at the moment .

The Ironman's , actually the bustle to money's tomorrow for this year , which obviously I won't be competing , but my coach is , so I'll be cheering him on . Shout out to Corey Green yeah , corey , yeah , go Granna . So yeah , that's . I think that's more of a personal one that I want to do next year .

Yeah , but yeah , more , more closer term , it'll definitely be the higher ups event . So that's , that's going to be my priority . I feel like that's . I think obviously we've got our strengths in different things . I think I feel like that's going to be my . That'll be my strength per se .

I'm so far off that it's not funny . So I'm , I'm staying in my lane there .

I was down visiting him and same thing like he's fucking two meters on tall , so trying to watch him do a power plane was like wild . But he's into it now and loving it , which is good .

It's humbling .

But in terms of , like , the business aspect , yeah , I want to grow to a point where , obviously , I can still be in touch with every single person that I've got .

Yeah , and then I'm going to be a part of the team and then to a point where , like for now , my goal is to create a community in person , like a Saturday , saturday run club , which I'm going to announce next week , starting next Saturday . Get down to Sorrento Beach Club . We're going to start off with a five o'clock run .

Yeah , build it in slowly with a crew and then , yeah , to be honest , I'd love to see nothing more than 200 people running down Scarborough Beach Road along the coast and having a swim and a coffee afterwards , and just , I feel like we can be so money and goal oriented where we forget about the people around us and actually having an impact , and that's what I

want to do . I don't want to ever lose that in just chasing building the business . I want to make it a forefront of it , actually creating and keeping a good community and just meeting so many different people Like that's my goal , to be honest . Yeah .

But I also know the value of like as our community grows , the value other people get , because we obviously link people up with people they can get value from and support as well . So that was definitely one of the challenges I felt and probably still do face .

This whole year I've been so focused on the business that I haven't been able to be in it with the boys as much , and you miss out on a lot of stuff and you see me like , fuck , I built it because I wanted to be in it , but also then there's other other responsibilities that had to be taken care of as well .

So it's like I completely can relate to that where you want to make sure that you're still involved and part of the community as well .

It's like anyone you've got family , you've got business , you've got your fitness , and when you're putting so much into one which I think is a big thing at the moment , like , obviously another one lacks a little bit . So you said something .

You know whether it's with the booze or with training or whatever it may be . Thank you .

He's something that I look up to a fair bit in terms of his training , but more so mindset and just like his vulnerability and I actually heard this from him , um with with a lot of his preps and a lot of my preparation it is there's a difference between being a hundred percent all in and committed to saying or all consumed , and I think the difference between

that is that , I found , is a hundred percent all in is . So I'll start with all consumed . A hundred percent all consumed is having tunnel vision almost on a goal and delving so much into it that you know , with your training , nutrition , when you get home , it's all you can think about . It's .

You know you're not finding time for you know your family or or other aspects of your life that are so important .

It's not being able to switch off when you with your family , um , or you know with your mates , it's it's not being able to go out for dinner and enjoy something that's out of routine , um , whereas a hundred percent all in is committing to your training .

You know 100% it's eating well , um , and doing all the right things , but knowing when you know you come home . That's you know , that's family time , that's , that's being human , it's being able to go out with your wife like and tonight to use anniversary wedding . Thank you very much , yeah let's get it .

And you know , being able to enjoy wine with our , you know , you know being out of routine . You know what I mean and it's , I think it's um , it's something that you know . I won't lie .

I , you know I juggle a little bit , um , and definitely getting better at but um , yeah , I think I think so much of us out there like , especially leading into Christmas , um , and like , oh , you know , I know I'm just going to treat myself over Christmas , so I might just stop now and , you know , get back to it in January .

But it's like , well , if you're a hundred percent all in , let's let's train up until Christmas and then let's have a break and then get back into it . Not all my work's going to be undone . So I'm just going to stop now and then start again Come Jan . Why don't ? It's all right , let's go .

I was like bloody hell , he's up early , so for me it's like I just get up , see yours and then , on my right , I put my boots on let's go .

yeah . So basically , well , probably the easiest ones Instagram , and yeah , there's yeah , obviously , just Zach Bainin on the score . I've got my link on there for anyone that wants to reach out , really , or just message me DM on Papi Dura's on on there , you know , to have a chat about .

You know anything you know fitness , self-related , and if it's something that you want to dive into , I'm more than happy to do that .

Yeah , that's probably the best time on Instagram is a bit , you know , what you see is not what always you get , but yeah , I think I'm just going to continue to try and post authentic , I suppose , content that you know really works for me and hopefully helps as many people out there as possible . So here on Instagram is probably the best one at the moment .

Awesome .

I think there's well I've got a heap of notes here as well Some important things that I hope really land for people to help them start making some changes in their life .

It's been awesome to have a chat and , yeah , excited to see where you're going as well with everything . Cheers , mate . No-transcript .