WE CHAT WITH NAVY SWCC AND IFBB PRO GUY SMITH

with the selection process. So you definitely want to go check out Guy Smith Underscore ifbb pro before we get started and talk to Guy about his career and Special Forces and a whole lot more. You know what to do, share, subscribe, hit that like, and you know we like it. It's not wasting any more time working on the show, mister Smith.

part of. You know, I had an uncle that was in the LA Sheriffs too, so he was very much an instrumental figure in my life. And so I looked up to those kind of men. I looked up to the brave warriors, the soldiers, the commandos, and that's what I wanted to be since I was as far back as I could remember.

to the ground during that time. You know, chaos in the streets, you name it. I'm not just painting that kind of picture, but that's just the way it was, right. But also I had an incredibly awesome and diverse of bringing too. You know, there was a lot of Latino families that lived in my community too, and so I grew up with you know, the Latin culture as well. You know, I had some great families in my community.

But unfortunately, you know, there was just a little bit of that negativity that we had with the gangs and so that just random mock. But you know, fortunately I had an incredible family that looked out for me and kept me out of those things, always pushed me to do better right. Education was really big and valued in my home, and staying out of the street life was incredibly valued impressed upon me, you know, at an early age.

And so, like I said, I never wanted to necessarily be a gang member partake in that kind of life. You know, I always set my goals high, and like I said, I always wanted to be a commander. Since they won.

interesting comment. I wonder if you encountered this. He said, when some of my cousins, when I contemplated for a second to join the gangs, they told me no, you have it together. You got people that love you. Don't get into this world. Did you ever encounter that by chance?

kind of life. And so there were times where I would kind of go outside with some of the neighborhood kids and you know, I'd try to walk down the street with them, and you know, a few houses down was kind of like this really pivotabal, you know, really instrumental family in the community, the rock Childs pay Out.

Don't mean to throw their name out there like that, but man, there they were heavy into the gangs, right, And I'm walking down the street and I would hear one of the uncles from the house.

allow that at all. Whereas the younger guys coming up, it was a little bit more about trying to you know, a doctrin eight guides into the gang and you know, build it out. And they said the violence had peach tremendously, especially when I was coming up with my preteens, and so, you know, besides just the neighborhood older guys, but you know, my household, my grandmother, like I said, she was definitely more terrifying than anything else that I would encounter out

in the streets, you know. Same for my mother, same for my sister. And a group with three women in the house that were just really on me, you know, and I was very much like themand of the house and so they all kind of played a critical role in guiding me and steering me and raising me, you know, to just think different and just being better and take on that role of being the man of the house.

they're older. They kind of weren't brought up in that world of showing respect, and now it's just all about you know, clout and you know murder, and I mean it's insane. Man. It's a whole different environment now.

of excitement. Did you look for Special Forces while in high school? Is that something you were saying, this is what I'm going to do when I get out of here or how did that go?

standards of being physically prepared, being mentally tough. And so moving forward, you know, I got into martial arts. I love martial arts. I loved wrestling, you know, jiu jitsu was starting to come up to UFC was starting to come up in the early days, and so I'd go, you know, to like Blockbuster and the video stores and go to the back special interest section, man and I do watch in the UFC, And that just captured my heart. I knew it that that was the thing that I

was gonna do. Right, If I couldn't be a special operator, I wanted to be a fighter warrior, you know. So I looked up to like the Kevin Randolman, the Mark Coleman's, you know, the Mark kerrz Ken Shamrocks, you name it, Don Fry, Like, those guys were the people that I looked up to. I love boxing too, so obviously Mike Tyson was a hero of mine, and so it was always I've always been attracted to that warrior spirit, that

warrior culture. Fast forward to high school, I'd get into wrestling, and then I really get my first taste of what it's like to really put out, to really train hard, to really have to dig mentally tough, to push yourself

through the major major physicalood mental adversity like that. I had a great coach in my life that really kind of took on a father figure type of role mentor for me, showed me what a like a family man, a real man is supposed to be and how to you know, deal with loss, you know, how to win with grace and excellence discipline. I'm and then fast forward out of high school, I maintained by connection with the wrestling community, got really into jiu jitsu and coaching wrestling,

and I guess that's where the story picks up. You know, obviously, you know I moved out down to San Diego. You know, met my wife there, met my you know, started my family there, but I got into wrestling and coaching h MMA guys because when I went down there, there wasn't a lot of wrestling going on. Everybody was in the jiu jitsu kind of the movie TI stuff, but to find a really high quality, high level wrestling just wasn't there.

So I met some great friends, got in with like the Marine Corp Wrestling team and anyway guys that would come into our gym turned out to be Navy seals, right and special ops guys. And then man, it just kind of blossomed from there. Right. I just was like, Okay, you know, I'm training with these guys. I'm working out with these guys in front of these guys, and they would tell me, man, like, you should just try it. You know, you're out here training eight hours a day.

You're kicking our ass, Like he want you, just go for it. And I ended up watching a video back in the old MySpace days. Right, the buddy of mine that was in high school with I just kidd was not the biggest toughest guy. He was much younger than I was, you know, by the time I graduated. I think maybe he was like a sophomore or something like that.

But Anyway, I'm looking at pictures of him, and he's like, each week he's like getting prepared for my business trip, and his beard would get bigger and bigger and bigger, bigger, look tough, looks strong, look muscular. What the hell's going on? And then he's post a picture or a video of himself jumping out of an airplay and I hit him up and he's like, yeah, man, you know, I'm a Navy seal, and I'm like, holy shit, this kid can do it. Then I need to go out there and

try it. And so that's kind of how it led into me, you know, get into special operations, man, I mean my life, just the trajectory I was on just kind of constantly put me in front of those kind of people. And so God will and I made it.

that out of you. And you know, it's not surprising that a lot of the most successful team guys I know, uh, we're former wrestlers, man, or former fighters or former boxers, no doubt about it. So if it's you know, in special operations law enforcement is a track that you want to go into, then yeah, I would definitely recommend at least learning how to fight, you know, and I mean really not just being a street warrior tough guy that certainly helps with grit and toughness, but to really, you know,

understand the discipline of martial arts and how to push yourself. Absolutely, man, it's going to pay dividends, no doubt about it.

Did you were you really small? Did you feel the same thing? Did you feel like these guys, there's some guys here that like, you know, they're going to run me over like the fridge, William Perry whatever, or what was your thought process on that? Did you think you had to be bigger and stronger or not.

you would be surprised. You would think it'd be the big, strong, grambo looking guy that's going to crush it. And note man, I mean those would often be the guys that are out and so obviously kind of an anomaly of being one of the bigger guys to make it through. And I think it just has something to do. You know, obviously it's very physical, but it's quite mental too, right, And you know, you can't put a percentage it's fifty

to fifty. It's you've got to have that combination of both that right, synergy of both physical toughness and grit and mental toughness. And I think when guys are really big and they come in and you know, they kind of maybe dominated their way through sports because their physical prowess and they really didn't meet any adversity when they come to the selection course. Like that's the whole point of the course. It's an attrition course. It's designed to

break you down. So if you haven't really developed that adversity, that ability to overcome adversity, or you haven't faced a lot of it because you're just physically large and intimidating and you just kind of pumble through people in the high school or whatever, that's not going to farewell for you out on the beach man. You're going to get exposed, you know. So it has to be deeper than that. The can't just be all about size and muscle. So, very very long answer. I took a short question.

jacked up. And so that's where you know, fighting comes into play. It really brings that out of you. You really learn how to think, underfeed and overcome adversity. You had to dig deep, man, when you get that feeling and you gut like you've got a puke and oh my god. You know, I thought I was stronger than this guy and he's like a tiny hundred fifty pound guy. You're two hundred fifty pound guy. But you can't break them, like, you got to go somewhere else mentally there. You can't

just rely all on your strength. You know, you got to develop that middle toughness aspect too. You know, you got to be able to think on your feet, got to be dynamic. So that's what the selection of course will do. You got to have that right combination of physical toughness midtal toughness, you know, to make it through.

jiu jitsu experience. At the time. I was about the same height as you, about two ten at the time, like to work out, and I remember winning going and going into the jiu jitsu studio. The head guy was a friend of my brothers, and he said, well, you're going to train with my assistant, who was about one hundred and fifty pounds five six And I thought, really, come on, And the assistant kneeled on the ground, turn his back to me and said, do whatever you want.

Your goal is to get me on the ground and submit. I said, well, this guy is going to be a cake walk. I remember grabbing him and all I remember is somehow he got me in an armbar. I lifted him up in the air and held him up in the air and he looks at me and he goes, what are you gonna do? So I said, well, I can slam you. He goes, if you slam me, I break your arm. So I said oh, well I can do this. Well, I'll break your arm. I said, I'm gonna put you down gently. That was my lesson. I

couldn't muscle my way through that one. We obviously became buddies.

not a disadvantage either. You know, like I said, your your heart and mental toughness and courage, that all has to be conditioned and cultivated, you know, over overcoming adversity throughout your life. You know, you're not just born with that. You know, you've got to really really develop yourself as an individual be able to push through times. And so if you you know, whether you were born into tough times or you kind of need to have life kick your ass a little bit and you need to find

some balance jiu jitsu martial arts. Refly, you're absolutely going to You're going to get it there, no doubt about it.

practicing and doing jiu jitsu. That's pretty much it. It was the most amazing experience. You do develop some interesting friendships out of that.

and it's like absolutely not. Like you know, if you're a parent on the fence about putting your kid in martial arts, like get off the fence and just go try of course, And yeah, you know all schools are created equal, but you're going to get quite the opposite.

You know, that tough guy stuff that goes away and it really becomes sportified with then you, like you said, your kid, if they have confidence issues, there's no greater way to build your confidence then knowing how to fight, knowing how to take care of yourself, being physically fit. If your kid has a EHD or you know they're hyperactive or whatever you want to call. I put heavy quotes on that because you always want to medicalize things

and give everything a name. It's like, listen to kid might need an outlet, right and creative outlet to disperse some energy. So therefore, put them in some jiu jitsu, put them in some martial arts. They're going to learn discipline, no doubt about it. Especially if you have a great destructor. You know they're gonna have to listen, They're gonna have to pay attention. Otherwise, you know, the outcomes aren't going

to be so great. So It's just a great place if you're on the fence as a parent, or if you're just looking for something to get your kid active and involved in, or you're just an individual you've never played sports and you want to get physically active. You hate the gym, but you want to do something. Man, martial arts, jiu jitsu, rest like that is my go to.

you how to become more aggressively. It's the ultimate balancing instead of just the equation for yourself as a human being. Man like you putting yourself in adversity, pushing yourself, getting that physical exertion out, getting that frustration out too. I mean, man, just sometimes going in there and going up against somebody, if you've got a rough ass day, it's again gonna give you some right balance, man, and just great tools for life. So I'm a huge advocate for it, huge

advocate for jiu jitsu. Whether you try to be a special ops guy or you're a female executive, I don't care. Get in there and try it. Won't lose it, won't it won't. You won't regret it. I'll tell you that.

I'll just reiterate everybody's contact where you're thinking, Guy Smith Underscore, IFBB Pro, it's guys Smith Underscore, I f BB Pro. You can find them over there on Instagram. Go check it out.

I love the most. Like, if you want to be a part of an outstanding team, I mean the experience that I had my experience, and not everybody has the same experience. I just want to put a covey out to that. There's a lot of guys that have horrible experiences because like have phenomenal experience. I haven't had all the greatest experiences either in the community, and that's a

whole different story. But when it comes down to the guys themselves and your teammates, like the brotherhood, the friendships, the bonds that you make, it's deeper than anything that you see in the movies. And when I think about, you know, just some incredible moments, right, is when I got to work with the Tier one level guys. Right, it's a whole different ball game when it comes to precision and accuracy and dedication to the mission and to

the guys and to getting the job done. And I don't think I've ever seen any level of synergy and coordination and precision and the type communication the movement that I did when I was working with Tier one elements. Man, I mean, it just takes what you think of as a standard special operator and then you go to that level. And what that really means is the level of mission is the face are so high, right, Like, there's no

fail criteria there. The mission has to get done because it directly affects national security, and so that elevates the mindset, that elevates the movement that elevates, you know, your action, the way you think, the way you speak, the way you conduct yourself to a whole different level that you know, you don't really know that you can tap into until you're put into that kind of level of pressure, you know.

And so to work with those guys you know you're in day in and day out, you know, from multiple deployments, I mean that just it blew my mind to the capabilities that we have as a fighting for us as a country and just what individuals, super motivated group of small small group of super motivated guys can can pull off. Man, the most extreme circumstances, just tremendous.

But then there's stuff man, where you get sat in the room and you know, you sit down in front of some lawyers and you get a sign paperwork and they tell you talk about this you have to go to jail. But yeah, I got to do some incredible operations, man, Like I said, with some amazing individuals at the tier one level, and like I said, man, there was a hell of the ride to be able to be a part of that's tremendous.

your timer stops. You got a snapshot of what life was like in that moment, and then you're off doing this crazy extreme shit and then you hit the timer the pause button on that world, and it doesn't matter what happened the day before, hour before, minute before. It stops right there. And then you got to come back and try to pick up basketball where you left off, Okay,

And that's that could be difficult, man. It was. I found that in the moment you're in it, and you know, you're kind of stuck on that combat, you know, deployment kind of mindset where everything's moving had one hundred miles a minute, and sometimes that's really difficult I think for both sides to adjust to. You know, I would certainly be a little bit more Kurt or snappy or edge of or want to move or want to you know, kind of everything is just on on. Meanwhile, you know,

they've kind of adjusted to you being gone. You know, things are still happening at their pace. The kids still got to get to school, you know, the wife's still got to do what she's got to do. You know, the kids have parties and things that you hey, they want you to be there and they want to show up their dad. But meanwhile, you know, you're kind of still in this wild mode man, and so that would

take a lot of time to adjust. Before our guys, man, you know, our temple was so high that it was like, man, right when you were about to adjust, it kind of just settled down. It was like, damn were outdoor gat So pretty much for you know, for straight four and a half straight years, it was just NonStop deployment after deployment, after deployment. You know, it'd be three months, six months, you know, two months, come back for a week, go again.

I mean it was just, you know, like I said, at certain levels, you don't just have a normal cycle. It's kind of you're just on or you're not. And so for me, man, I mean, our whole time was just on and so justin was very difficult, very difficult.

In other words, that wasn't epic of a deal. What are you? What are you complaining about? You didn't just try to get you almost got killed out. I almost got killed out, and I had to wipe out this assassin. And you're talking about car doesn't have enough gas. But then he realized eventually that that is important to her, so it had to be important to him. Did you encounter that same situation.

this or that. I'm like, well, wait a minute, you know, but it's true, you kind of dot I don't want to saying that they're in max sorry, So you know, you kind of forget, like I said, that they have their world and their life too, and so you get so kind of self absorbed into what you're doing. And that's really what it is. It almost because of becomes its kind of self centeredness. And I don't know if that's the right word or not, but it is, that's

what it is. Because you're so used to dealing with these really what you think are these really high level issues uh, And you don't have to go grocery shopping, you don't have to go put gas in the car, you don't have to fix it. You've got a team of people that can kind of do those things. And you kind of forget that too, that you know, you've

got a whole group of people supporting you. It's not just you out there, but for them, like it is kind of just them out there, especially if they don't have any family, you know, and so yeah, when you come home and you're like, well, you know, you got to go grocery shopping or all, I forgot this, and they're a little frustrated, it's like, well, yeah, you got to think about all the things that they have to deal with the kids, you know, getting to work on time, Yeah,

that is a big deal. If the kids don't have something for Roger, they don't have the air and the tire, how they get a flat and all these things. So you know, you don't see those as big deals. But absolutely, man, they have their own world that they live into, and so we just kind of forget that. And I think that's where things get disconnected with the families and the guys. It's like, yeah, what we're dealing with is extremely important. It is life and death. But in their world that's

just not how things work. It's just a little bit different, you know, and so you know, I wish there was a way to smooth that over, but unfortunately, man, it is the way the business. It just it is tough, it is crazy, and these worlds don't necessarily work together. They don't, and that's why it is what it is. That's why the military is separated and totally different life compared to a civiliate life. You know.

would help the warfighter. It would it would help the warfighter if the families had a better understanding of what's going on. Yet it's scary to know, and obviously they can't know everything, but at least to be better prepared for some of the things, you know, to be able to talk to someone that's familiar with combat stress and post dramatic stress and those types of things that could compare the family. Okay, hey, you know, your war fighter may come home, it may be a little bit edgy,

that may be a little bit of type. Maybe you kind of had to kind of navigate things a little bit more gently, conder or whatever, and vice versa, right, talking to the war fighter. Hey, look, man, you know we've been you know you've been through this. We know you guys have been this high level of tempo. Listen, here's some of the things that you can possibly expect, and maybe have someone mediating between the families at least to help bridge that gap so that way it's not

just such a shock for everybody, because it does take time. Man, Like I said, it's not just the war fighter coming home that hass to adjust. It's the family or the wife or whoever, the mom, dad, whoever has to adjust now to the forour fighter coming home too, because life has gone on for them as well. And so that's like I said, Man, I think you know, at the command level, whatever that may be, each command is different.

I think there could be a lot more dunk on that end to bridge the gap between the families.

this is my experience with it. So you know, right around maybe twenty sixteen, I think things started to change a little bit and you started having more psychologists and whatnot on deck that you can go and speak to. But then there's also a huge stigma there too. It's not like he is even now. You know, back then it wasn't about you know, you didn't want to expose that, you know that you maybe were having psychological issues, you know, from being deployed for so long. You know a lot

of guys too, you know, I think it's wrong. It just stigmatized that, you know, just the war and the combat and the you know, the visceral nature of war is the only thing that affects people. You know, some guys also are affected budgets, being away from their loved ones. Maybe they're having issues with their children, they have a sick kid or something like that. You know, that can take a dramatic toll. Guys that are you know, unable to be there for their kids being born and now

they've missed out whole years of their kids' lives. Like, those kinds of things can affect people. Guys that have had families prior to and now are separated, you know, due to war and all these types of things. Man, I mean, these these have dramatic psychological effects on kids, on the spouses, intimacy, you know, closeness to bonds, like all those things kind of get ripped apart or stretched due to that separation and all the things that happened

in between, you know. So it's I think there could be a lot more done, like I said, at the command level as a whole, to help bridge the gap for our war fighters and the families. You know.

it was actually a smaller percentage. I think it was like twenty percent, and the high percentage of those individuals tended to have trauma early on in their lives, whether it's some kind of abuse or whatever it may be, that made them a little bit more susceptible possibly to it or vulnerable to it. It was really interesting because I know there's been several that came out about the military.

Even nine to eleven, there was an interesting study on PTSD in the local community when they did an evaluation two weeks after nine to eleven attack. They found I think about fifty or sixty percent of people in New York in that area had PTSD, but whether it six months had dropped to thirty. Within another six months, it dropped ten and they were stunned. They're like, well, wait a minute, that isn't what we know because PTSD only gets diagnosed after four weeks, so it was kind of

an odd thing when it dropped like that. And it's the same thing with the military. I think people think everybody who goes to deployment gets PTSD, but it's not the case.

you not. I mean, through the first fourteen years of my life, sexual abuse, I've seen drug abuse. I mean it was just right in your face all the time. And what I found the military gave me a lot of balance. It almost like stripped a lot of the negative things that I felt in my life, any of the I don't know whatever behavioral things that I might

have had to kind of stripped it. Man. And so I think for people too that don't experience any kind of trauma and they do, that has like the same kind of effect, right they get a little but then over time you just kind of get a little bit sensitized to it. Plus, the structure of the military kind

of cultivates that environment, so it works both ways. I think if you deal with a lot of trauma and you're having a lot of issues earlier in life, the military can be a great tool to kind of help leverage that and balance that and even use some of that negative energy because you are doing good things out

in the world, mostly helping people. Uh. And then if you're in and you're having issues, I think if you are able to have a healthier relationship and talk about these things and just kind of get it out of the way, then you can move past a little bit better. Right now, that doesn't speak to grief and things like that. I think those are very different things. If you had someone close to you that was killed or you know, even if there's going to live or being in a

very traumatic situation. I think, you know, it's very degreees to that, but I think we're all affected, you know, differently now and it isn't always negative. You know, a lot of the guys I talk to, I try to tell them, like, don't feel bad about your service and what you have to do your life on the line. You have to save your life, you have to save the life of your friends, and if you had to take someone's life to do that, don't feel bad about that.

That's what was asked of you, and you did it and you have to and now you can move past it, you know, get yourself into a different frame of life. Life's about perspectives, So start doing more positive things for yourself to get out of that. Get moving again, you know, get back to what made you that that mighty warrior to begin with. These are guys that're talking about to come out of have a rough transition, that get caught up in alcoholism or drug addiction, sex addiction, crazy things

like that. I'm like, look, man, you know you have to continue to press forward, push yourself, get back into the discipline, and that's how you get back on the train to I guess standardy and you know, get your sobriety and get your mental health in the right order. But yeah, when it comes to PTSD, I think it affects us differently. It just does. Yeah, I'll believe it at that very well.

were you and he said I was twenty two. I was like twenty two forgots, and he goes, you know, the first thought I had as we're getting ready to land was it's okay to shoot these people. I said, well, that's an interesting question. He goes, I have to ask. I had to let them myself know that it was okay. They're going to try to kill me and I have to stop them. And within about I don't know, he said, like a minute or two right after that was it. It was the first guy he had to take out.

I think the helicopter was landing in the middle of the field and it was he was about six or ten feet from landing. The whole jungle opened up, he said, and he was surrounded. Was an ambush, and the guy popped up in the in the tree. And that was the first guy he took out. But it was an interesting question to tackle early on. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna leave it there. If you want to explore that, that's fine, but I'm gonna ask you another question, and

you have to take it at one. Yeah, I know, we're starting to run out of time, and I wanted to switch gears to your performance and mindset. I can see it ready by a lot of your answers today. You have a lot of insight, You have a lot of knowledge in this area. You understand human nature quite well and human personality. So I guess tell us a little bit about what is performance and mindset coaching. Is that the same as selection prepping or is it separate or in urch wine? What's going on here?

all solution. But what I do apply is that formula of you know, discipline and having a sound plan a structure to how we're going to tackle whatever issue or goal that you want to accomplish in life. That's how we do it in the community. I think that's how the most successful people rant it. You've got to have a plan and a structure now you're going to do things. And so that's what I provide for my performance and

mindset coaching clients. I get a lot of people that have health issues, high lipids, high blood sugar, you name it. I worked in the biotech space for a very long time. I've been a coach for twenty years, and so I applied the knowledge that I've gained over the years and even working in the special operations community, helping our guys improve their health and mitigate injuries and get stronger. I apply a lot of those concepts for my clients, you know. So I get them on a diet plan, I get

them on a solid, subtle the regiment. You know. I've taken people who's had you know, triglycerides into the four hundred, five hundreds, and I'll bring them down into the fifties, you know, into optimal territory in a very short time, all through diet and exercise and just you know, instituting some healthy lifestyle choices. And now when it comes to my special operations guys or guys that want to you know, move into SWAT or higher level you know, tactical elements

within their jobs, what I do for them is very similar. Right. We identify goals and then I go ahead and put together a plan and a structure to help get them in shape, get them in comfortable shape. If my goals always try to make someone at the level of a tier one. And so if that's the route that you want to go, or if you're looking to get into special operations, or if you're looking to go into slot or a tactical unit, you're I'm quite sure how to put it together. Reach out.

set a very high goal for myself. And my wife was already kind of getting into bodybuilding as well, and I really wasn't thinking about jumping into it, but that was kind of a goal that she'd set for herself. And she wanted to do a bodybuilding competition right before she where she turned fifty. But I'm going to do a bodybuilding competition, and she said you should try it to and I'm like, I don't know if I want to get on stage and you know, wear this short.

She's like, well, no, look at this. You know, these guys are wearing shorts and you've got a great physique. You can do it. And she's like, listen, there's a there's a show coming up in two weeks. And I'm like, in two weeks. She's like, yeah, come on, you can do it. And I was like, all right, you know what, let's do it. You know, I was already starting to getting shade by his training. I was conditioning and getting back into it. Really just dedicated myself to the discipline.

And I was like, all right. She had a great trainer, a great friend of mine, Andy Belchi. She's out my Instagram quite a bit, big, big old guy beer that I trained with, and man, he put a diet playing together for me. And I went out and knocked out my very first bodybuilding competition. It was the Ja Cutler Desert Classic, and I want it. You know. I won everything that I competed in, and I was like, man,

I got the itch. It just kind of scratched that dich for competition, and then it just truly further developed

my knowledge on what bodybuilding really is. I've always been a fan of it, you know, like I said back in the dad I love UFC and all that, but I love bodybuilding too, man, Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler and all those guys, all the classic badass guys we used to watch, And so I didn't really understand though, the science of it and the discipline of it until I got into it myself, and man, it really blew my mind on just how dedicated you have to be to be at the highest level of this thing. And

it just has taken off from there. You know, ended up getting my pro card in less than a year competition, we ended up getting twelve straight you know gold. You know, we just crushed it from the start of this thing, so I could plan on continuing. Man, I love it.

So it really does, man. I mean when you're serious with it, you know, you don't You're not hanging out on the weekends, you're not drinking alcohol, You're not doing a bunch of nonsense. It's like to win at the highest levels. To be great at it, you got to be one dedicated. You cannot devigate every little ounce matters, you know. So yeah, it's difficult. It's definitely a difficult life.