Unbreakable Episode 117 - Lane Johnson

This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental wealth podcast build you from the inside out.

Now here's Jay Glacier.

Welcome into Unbreakable mental Wealth podcast with Jay Laser.

I'm Jay Glazer.

Joining me is a man who has quite a busy week I had him here, but also one of my first friends in this league who really made a difference when it comes to mental health. He is my battle buddy. Hell, he lived with me for about five months with my son and I. He was one of the first guys who really took on our mich Marslat's training program to heart.

I'd have to change his life and he's changed mine as well.

The all world right tackle for the Philadelphi Eagles, Lane Johnson.

How are we doing, big boy?

Man? Doing good?

Uh? Yes, quite a busy week in a busy one coming up, but yeah man, thankful, time's going fast and uh yes it's spending five ride.

So third one crazy?

How this one different from the other two? Like now that you what you know?

Well, every team's different. I just feel like, uh, not the.

Team, just the experience, Like how are you able to better prepare because you've we advented twice?

Yeah?

I mean I just trade as another game. I don't make it more than what it is. And so yeah, really, I mean, I mean a lot of it comes down to a lot of factors, Like staying healthy is one of them. And but I just feel like we're close on and off the field, and all that stuff translates to, uh, you know what's happening on the field?

Is there stuff though that you learned?

But obviously you know, finding for the new guys, like what advice do you give them about Hey, when this comes up?

How do you make it just another game?

Uh?

Yeah, you just got to stay in the moment.

I think a lot of what athletes do is overthink and over analyze, and so when you do that, you don't play as fast. You're not reacting as fast. So you know, that's really one of them. And you know a lot of it's staying focused and you got to practice stay in the moment and stay in the present because you know, a lot of what we do is you know, dealing with distraction. So that's the biggest thing that don't make the situation bigger than what it is a lot of distractions.

Down there, right, there's a lot of you let it become a distraction.

It's easy for it to happen.

Yeah, it's easy to attackle and you don't have to play quarterbacks or roundabout.

It's pretty easy.

What so again, you know I've said a couple of things. One, you're my battle buddy, the mm A. It's funny because the unbreakable mindset for us used to be, right, Lene, I used to tell you and all, I got a rule, right, no putting your hands on your hips, neutral face, neutral face, don't show that we're hurt. Don't show that we're hurt, and we need that in football and fighting. Now we have a different unbreakable mindset right outside those white lines

Yeah, well, it's really going for being a robot slash animal to a human.

The human again, So that's surely what it is.

And it's hard to turn that on and off when a lot of your friends or whoever you hang out with, or alpha males and a deer there in a different line of work.

So you know, it's just diver from that aspect, you know.

Yeah, it was interesting though, because like the I'll never forget what we go back to our first workout, you threw up play eight times just to hip them up right, and I thought that's just because being randy coatur are wearing you out. And then it comes to find out it's not really that's your anxiety which gets.

Not to happen.

Yeah, a little bit of both. Yeah, so we'll.

Take credit for the first part of it, right.

Yeah, Well, just what I was saying is a lot of it's goes down over thinking things and making stuff worse than what it actually is. So, you know, I think a big quote is people suffer more and is in their heads and what they do in reality.

You know, So how much your life changed since we've started coming out and talking about this, just as.

Far as what's yet, I think it you know, allowed me to help a lot of other people as well as help myself. But you know, with anything, I just think it's made the conversation a lot easier and people being vulnerable on themselves and so, you know, I think that's the most important thing is that it doesn't feel forced and it's not fake. And yeah, I mean definitely wouldn't like that. Ten years ago when I first got in the league, you know, it was you know, a lot different.

Yeah, I mean just the I mean, hell, I came into a future last week with playing and he and I got together a little work out, a little so on, and I told him and to talk like, dam man, I'm struggling because I'm.

Just I'm worn down and tired.

And you know, we were trading partners, but we didn't know we had that until now, and it's just that helped me so much. And that's what I'm saying, like these things were able to lift each other up now that we just didn't know we had five years ago.

Yeah, it was really Uh, I don't know, you left fear and those emotions that you feel really consume you and dominate your lifestyle or your life. And it's like and those come up in any time, and so you feel like you're you don't have any control of anything, and so I want you to flip that around, you know, then then you control everything.

Tell people heard how much you still go through it, because I want people to understand there's something we work on, but it's not like we don't know what, but just how we head.

Yeah, yeah, just game game days are rough on me. Every every everything else is usually pretty good.

You know.

Game days are just mornings nausea. Just uh, confidence is low, and I don't know, I just feel like it's not luck. There's not a lot to look forward to.

You know.

The first stats for us are usually negative like pressures, hurries, sacks.

So uh, but like.

I said once, I once, I have to deal with emotions and over overcome that.

I just really get out there and try not to think.

I really try to rely on my training and like my habits, and so whenever pressure is applied, all that stuff comes out and it's nothing, you know, nothing that I have to think about. And after all these years, it's really you know nothing thinking about a whole lot.

If you're okay, if I could tell the world that, like look what I tell you on game deck, Yeah okay.

So Lane calls me when he's going through it, which is again this is like that's your honor, that's your battle, buddy, right, there's no no one's questioning our manhoods and we're going through we call each other and he'll call me on game damn when it's going rough, and this year, I'm like, here, bro, that just means you get to put your armor on.

Right.

That means if you're starting to feel that anxiety, you're starting to throw up, you getting that nose here, Fuck, it's motherfucker. You get to go fight and you put that armor on. It's you gotta use it. You got to weaponize. You gotta kind of make it your superpower. And these are conversations that are man, there's way more powerful than anything we.

Ever could have.

Yeah, and I think a lot of it is too, Like once you played a certain standard, you feel like personally and professionally you have to meet that standard every year and anything that may be short of that is considered a failure. So you know, I think for you know, athletes that have that mindset, they can be hard on themselves some buns. But like I said, I think it's also what makes an individual different than than the rest. So once you learn to control it and use it, you know to your advantage.

You know, it goes completely the other way.

We also told you too, like look, you've trained with Randy Gator and Chuckle Deeligether and these guys knock each other out I'm like, no one looks at them and judges their career by one knockout and one law.

Same for you.

It's like, hey man, your body you work is Your body work is not whether you have a good game or not. It's not whether you have a good series or not, not whether you have a good play. It's your body work. And that's I think one of the biggest challenges we have. It's to convince you and other guys have it's your body of work. It doesn't come down on one player that game.

Yes, that and just you know, letting others define you in general, I think is a big problem. A lot of people use external resources for you know, internal gratification and I already good quote other days for as Selvish as we are, and as much as we care about ourselves, we care about what others think a lot more, which is insane.

So you know, I don't know.

I just think a lot of people are older, they'll realize how much time they wasted morey in wasting time, I.

Would just put a couple of Fight teammates two weeks ago, Mark Kerr Couture, Alec Carroll Lexis, who was on the first Fighter of the Ultimate first, he's the ultimate fighter. And Alex said, hey, man, the whole stix and stones thing, they get it backwards like sticks and stones won't break behind the bones.

But words fucking hurt us.

Yeah, that's fucking fantastic, it does. That's how we are. Like shit, physical paid is nothing to us, but somebody says about its man, we're sensitive or we see on Twitter, Instagram.

You know, yeah, emotionally and yeah, I guess when everything's like in the public eye too, and that can also amplified things too. I don't know, it can be a frustrating process, but I've learned with I guess with age to handle it more with grace and talk and communicate it instead of, you know, letting it turn into something.

What are some of the things you do to coop now?

Yeah, I mean a lot for me is uh, you know, we train concentration grands to do that a lot.

On game day.

I do a lot of Sudoku on game day. Don't really listen to music anymore. I mean, we have it in the locker room, but I just try to save my mind, you know, pretty pretty relaxed, focused, but relaxed. And then when I get to the game. I I trying to thank too much, you know, I know what to do. We I mean, all we do is do walk throughs and and then go play, you know, game after game, season after season.

So with all the experience, you know, but it goes down to communication.

Uh, and every game is different, but a big part of its communication and being able to adapt because sometimes your game plan didn't match you know, what they have on the field, and you have to adjust.

So beside from football, what do you do to cook? So I learned the journal from you. You're the one who told me. Yeah, because again we start talking about this five years ago whatever, I was still learning shit. Also now I know how to do breath with working meditation and a gratitude list, and you know, I'll do a cold plunge and stuff like that.

I'll work out. I do all this stuff before I look at my phone. What are some of.

Your rituals to get you to get to get the roommates in your head to talk nice to each other each day?

Yeah? Well, I think is getting away from the phones.

Anything to do with me outside or in nature, usually by a body of water usually or somewhere where I like to go. But yeah, for me is really getting off the phone and just just being content, you know, really and not having to feel like I have to be somewhere, you know, or have to be doing something.

Is your anxiety caused more by a fear of what's about to happen or stuff that happened in the best.

No, My my fear is that I have to be perfect against somebody that has to rush forty times against me, and I have to ever lose, and I'm on the island the most. They don't help me at all with guards or any tight ends or running backs jobs retally the hardest in the league.

Because you're that good. Yes, so it's kind of a double edged sword.

Yeah well yeah, well, like I said, that did help you off, they're helping you. Yeah, well, like I said that, the upside is the money outside is is Bisically, Hey, you have to go against another team's alpha male and uh they're trying to run over you or through you, around you whatever they got to do. So but you know, it's a battle. It is what it is, and it's uh yeah, I mean I love it.

What's the funnest part about Super Bowl Week?

Uh, just enjoying it with the teammates, everybody else has different reactions and emotions. But uh, you know, knowing that the season is is finally uh here to this last week is you know, something to celebrate in itself before it kicks off?

Is the game is amp you up or like a letdown of like because there's so much other stuff.

I know, it's uh, I think it's a great wig. I think it's a great you know experience for the fans and families. And yeah, by game time it's like, yeah, we're ready to play. It's you know, we've we've done their duties. Let's get down the business.

You have a funny Super Bowl moment where you're standing there one of the other games and you saw someone famous for somebody in the crowd.

You're like, oh.

Shit, trying to think super Bowl.

Yeah, I saw Kevin Hart running through the crowd, and I think you want to go stats the super Bowl trophy.

Yeah, it's pretty wild man.

And this is is this our second or is our second two Bowl we've done together?

Yeah?

Right, same team last time.

Now.

I want to get kind of just on this thing again about our mental health.

It's not just depressing anxiety, right, mental health that six inches in between years also leads to greatness.

So you know, I changed this for Mental Wealth podcast.

And one of the things about being great is find out who the best is and do more than them over and over and over and over. That's one of the things when I first met you, You're like, hey, I'm I could do something different. But every year I want you to explain to people. You don't just sit and say, Okay, this works for me last year. You always build. You always keep adding stuff each year. Who

Yeah, it's really like an internal scouting. I mean you kind of find you know, everybody, every player has their things that they're great at, and they have some things that they may be the fishing or not as good at.

So everybody has things to attack.

And so as you get older, people get more stiff, the mobility decreases.

So work a lot on mad and then work a lot in.

You know, some moving, some waiting, some you know, two or three lifts that I think are functional for football, and then yeah, I mean I do that usually five days a week. During the off season throughout the year, I do all day cass, but I make sure that the gym is there and that you know I'm doing what I'm so sweet doing. But I think you know, listen to your body is one thing, and then you know, as you get older and and just yeah, I think

But it's not just you know, getting stronger till so how you rehab better, how you sleep better, how you eat better. Every year you come up with something else, every every else is No, it's not just about you lift and you've figured it out too. There's more recovery.

Something else I could do for recovery, breathing, breath work, sleeping, eating, everything.

Yeah, I mean a lot of like just stress control, the breath works, some of the best love the sauna, love the cold punge, and that's kind of part of you know, the routine now. But yeah, I mean, I think the thing is it's not it's not sexy, it's not cool, but it's being consistent with it. And that's what you find, you know, as as the time goes on. Some people stay on the trained with it, or some people hop off.

So tell everybody what you learned from me and doing the MMA stuff being ran in Chuck.

Yeah, I mean, you just gotta it's all about learning new techniques and they're there to help you, but really about you know, fighting, and you know stuff's just gonna go bad, and you know you may throw up a few times and not feel very good about yourself. But as the days go on, you start getting better and you improve, and you know you're not the same person you were. You know, a few weeks from when you started, you start changing.

Yeah, look, we told you when you come in then we're gonna change. Tell you, man, you follow us, we'll change your grandkids' lives.

Be the hardest.

We'll make football easy, but you make it a fight, right, you don't see that you're hurt as we start wearing them now. But we work on your hands, we'll work on your hips more than make you violent when we make it a fight every fucking play. And that's what you gotta do football, We're gonna do fighting. That's what you gotta do in life. But most people just they're gonna want to type out most people don't sign up for a fight.

They sign up for a business or a sport or a game, not a fight.

Yeah, people need to talk to themselves more than they listen to themselves, So try that a little bit, sir, explain that, Uh, talk to yourself is come on, you can do this instead of listening to your h the good Wolf, Bad Wolf.

I like that a lot. Give me the again.

Since you've come out and talked about method, they got one or two questions left for you. How many players come up to like does it happened often? So guys come up to during the game, before games, just like thanking you for making okay for.

Us to talk about this.

Yes, usually uh like after games. Uh, usually when we have time to talk, which is probably the coolest thing.

So you know it's happened numerous times, and you know we exchange numbers or you know, uh talk a lot act of the game, but really kind of build a connection from the game after that, so.

Which is really cool.

You pride yourself for this.

Yeah, you know, I think it's it's helped me, and it's it's helped others, and I think it's you That's ultimately what it's about.

And I think it's authentic. So which is you know all I care about.

People always say to me, yeah, you're so courageous by opening up, and I don't view it that way.

I just I know how you do. Like I never saw it courageous.

I'm just like, hey, man, if I could be a service someone, Ye, I'm fucked up and I'm learning to be good my fucked up and that's if you canna help you, I'm gonna do it.

Do you feel what's what's your thought? How does it make you feel when someone says it to you?

Uh?

Yeah, we all talk abub well better able to communicate myself and uh you know it slopped me to change and to you know, grow to the person I want to become and not let any setbacks or any fear or anything that I have.

In front of me set me back. So that's really what it's what it's about.

All right, brother.

I appreciate you joining us, man. I know we're a little brevia here super Bowl week. Love you, dude, love everything that. Appreciate you leaning into me on those those hard days, on Sundays and every day. Because when you lean into me, dude, even though you're trying to get help for you.

It lifts me up to me to be your brother, so I appreciate it.

Tides raised, raised all the boats. That's how we go on. I love you too, Love.

You brother, good luck this week. I'll see you down there.