S1E49 · Josh Kaiser: Self Awareness

Hey legends welcome to the Virtus Performance Podcast. Coop says hi. We're sitting at week, what are we up to, week 49 this week, episode 49. We are getting ever so closer to the goal of 52 podcasts in a row. So if you guys are enjoying the podcast and you want it to keep going please let us know. If you hate it and are sick of it and want me to stop talking then please let me know and then yeah I guess I'll tally it up take it to a vote and see what happens. Today's podcast I sat down with Josh Kaiser.

Some of you guys might know Josh, he is a member of the Virtus family, he is a former triathlete, someone who has dealt with a fair bit of adversity and someone who has polarized a lot of opinions in the past and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Josh and I have not always seen eye to eye and haven't always agreed on things. We talked about why and talked about how that's progressed and changed and how his mindset and how his values have progressed and changed and improved and things like that over the last couple of years.

So really interesting chat, we talked about his achievements, talked about his failures and talked about all his change in mindset. So if you have been enjoying the podcast I would really appreciate if you could share it, if you could subscribe, if you could pump it up to your friends and family. If you haven't been enjoying it please send it to the people you hate and let them listen to it. Enjoy. My personal and business goal is to be just a little bit better every day. I believe everyone, especially normal people, have a story to tell. The Virtus podcast exists to help us all find small ways of consistent improvement by discussing the journey and experiences of each of our guests.

Josh Kaiser, mate, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. It's good to have you in. I'm actually pretty excited to do something like this. Excited or nervous? Well we were talking about this, we were talking about nervous but now I'm actually probably more excited than anything. Good. It's gonna be a lot of fun. First question for you, what gets you out of bed in the morning? A little bit cliche because it's more or less what Virtus bases everything on. Probably a year ago it would have been a lot different, wouldn't have been able to answer that question at all.

Now it's pretty much just to improve from where I was yesterday and that's pretty much what I base every morning on. Doing the small things right and then get into work. Talk to me about your mindset, I guess a difference in your mindset from now and a year ago. It's a pretty good self-reflection to be able to say I wouldn't have been able to answer this 12 months ago. Why? I had a lot of self-pity probably a year ago. The world was against me, kind of out of tune and it just generally wasn't. I was

just sort of struggling to find my my place where I fit in with a lot of small things going wrong that really are small things and back then I thought they were massive and I had no genuine direction. Sure I had goals and all that kind of stuff but never really committed to those goals and sort of just stumbled and that just usually spiralled out of control most of the time. In comparison to now, I actually enjoy the small failures. Big failures still sting but I just turn them into smaller ones and sort of work through it.

So I'm sure we'll touch on some of the some of the failures. What do you think are the main drivers for that change in perspective? How have you gotten from where you were to where you are now? It's probably more family orientated than anything in all honesty. Seeing certain people in my family sort of have things go wrong and deal with it absolutely terribly and put the blame on everybody else when it's in reality it's all you can do is control your life. You really can't put your life on others. Sure you can get guidance but guidance is nothing without you sort of taking it on board and moving forward.

Has it been a gradual realisational gradual gradual change to realize that like you're in charge of your life and for that ability to actually kind of go you know what I'm going to stop with the self-pity I'm going to stop with the with feeling sorry for myself and feeling like I'm the center of everything and and move towards that that feeling of or having perspective and understanding that it's not all about you. I think the frustrating part about it is I've always known but I've never sort of did anything about it yeah I've just always

felt it was easy just a silk yeah which to put it bluntly I was definitely a silk back in the day yeah it was definitely definitely a gradual change I couldn't change in a day and I sort of just chose a couple of things about myself and until they were right I wouldn't move on to the next thing yeah because every time that I've tried to sort of change who I am as a person or where I want to go I try to do it all at once cold turkey never works and you just end

up back at square one yeah so I decided to just deal with the fact that I've got flaws and pick one or two at a time. Well you're not alone in that aspect. Yeah well everybody's got flaws. 100% mate. Everybody's got flaws but even other people with flaws they respect them and they they know about them yeah whereas I knew about them and didn't care it was just yeah it was it didn't care because you thought you had no control over them or was it didn't care yeah I felt as I had pretty poor control

over it okay yeah what if like what if the trying to ask this question what have been the the tools or the things that well the people in your life that have helped you find those find those little wins and the importance of the little failures and actually be able to take a step forward to go you know what I do have this control. I think my dad massively awesome dad and I were never really all that close growing up yeah he was of the old-school era of he provides the food he provides the bills

yeah pays the bills yeah and that's sort of his extent to his input now I'm older more independent blah blah blah yeah I sort of opened up to him a lot more and he sort of finally put pencil down and said okay yeah I'm happy to have a chat that's good which is cool which is cool he's still not all that emotional definitely not truly he's very Tuscan I've only ever seen him cry once in my entire life yeah but the fact he's willing to be there help he definitely doesn't get handouts not at all

I think that's why I was respected so much good yeah we've all got debt and all that kind of stuff I was young and dumb and wrapped it up yeah and he never really said all right I'll pay it but he's helped here and there yeah good was it like I guess growing up and having and having that father figure who wasn't necessarily as emotional is it something that you were you struggled with or was it I don't think I ever comprehended it yeah until I was older yeah mainly when I started putting self-pity aside

because I don't think I blame my dad for self-pity yeah I probably suddenly to blame it was just so is what it was well I think if you were still in that self-pity you try and find someone to blame right exactly right yeah yeah but looking back there is no one to blame beside yourself and there's no real reason it happened yeah I can list a whole bunch of bad things that happened in my life but they're all sort of irrelevant I just dealt with them poorly in my opinion and when I was younger my

mom was definitely a massive support and soon as I sort of gained independence that's when that was sort of a turning point then I had to leave home sort of repair that a little bit yeah yeah did you up in terms of I guess that that switch or that change in mentality was there one specific moment you remember or one turning point or one event that kind of you went you know what I'm done feeling sorry for myself whoa this is not that's okay that's a good question actually yes yeah leading so as you know

you see triathlon leading into one of probably the biggest races of my life and we got the triathlon forest yeah I got injured yeah and couldn't come back from it pulled out of world champs yeah and that's when I sort of spiraled even worse yeah had everyone had life quit triathlon put all the shit in the shed and gave up yeah it's probably four or five months of doing absolutely nothing yeah didn't rehab didn't try and fix my knee didn't do want to talk to anyone sort of just working my day half-assed and then yeah

just go through the motions waking up going to sleep yeah he's rubbish spending all the money yeah probably four or five months worth of that and then I sort of looked at what I achieved in the past four or five months yeah and for lack of a better words it was absolutely fuck all fuck all yeah absolutely fuck all and that just instantly changed me which would lead into this win which so that that moment the fact that I was training committing to training doing it reasonably well I was on no late form yeah but

I was raising high in the a trip yeah from that let's call it success to doing absolutely nothing that was probably the turning point yeah because I was too blind for my injuries absolutely hundred percent never respected body how would you have gone if you if past Josh could talk to talk to present Josh yeah how would you approach that conversation of trying to tell your present or your past self to settle down what held that conversation that's good stuff probably along the lines of you really don't need to talk as much as you do

yeah just take a step back and sort of take things in instead of having the opinion so because in reality I don't my opinions really aren't all that valid especially in training that's the one little thing about opinions none of them really are true but you empower a coach because yeah their opinion is of a more educated than yours definitely simple as that yeah and I would always sort of push back and too hard and noise kind of crap yes I'd probably just tell myself to take a step back and shut up get into you

cut your training in you and you swim and try to honor what kind of went from there in a little bit but talk to me through your triathlon career how did you how'd you get into triathlon how'd you get started what age did you start started at 19 and a half I think yeah now 24 yeah and I started you can obviously know Paul Marchant he was a shout out classic he was at Pelican Park and that's where I used to swim teach yeah coach he was went to my school and that's having a chat

losses there and up swimming yeah and got talking hey did try off and I was like yeah I'm sure so I did one try on just just for funsies and yeah went out and bought a bike and all of a sudden yeah your world is triathlon yeah so that's sort of how that progressed and then when I'm joining a team on there on the moisture potential up and yeah just keep building from there ended up on the sponsored team for that that company so you were decent I was above average I'd call it like I

said in no no means I was a late yeah probably had the elitist attitude as soon as you get reasonably good at something you think you're shit hot yeah like I'm like I made worlds yeah either way it's not that hard to make worlds like you got a top three in your age group and yeah I think it's but it's still pretty decent achievement yeah but start yeah don't get me wrong it's unpaid yeah I'm definitely should release you you're a paid athlete yeah yeah good good still me through that I guess that progression from

being 19 19 years old starting triathlon to to making worlds what was the progression like was it quick was a fast was it just rising through the ranks or was it hard well what I qualified before was half Ironman 70.3 worlds yeah and I qualified on my second race yeah so the progression of going into half that was quick yeah but I've been doing it for two or three years yeah but it kind of shows that you're either exceptional you're elite and that's when things become hard yeah or you've got people that would I would

say have some form of natural ability and I could already swim I could already cycle I could already run yeah to me those three things aren't difficult and swimming is the one the biggest one that sort of got me through yeah a lot of people struggling with all yeah swimming isn't a natural thing yeah maybe we can sit on a bike and tickle exactly most people can run exactly yeah a reasonable pace yeah but there's a lot of like for example for swimming I would be probably top three well was top three for every race

for me out of the water and there would be a game of who can catch up yeah so I always sort of had a head start and we're talking anywhere between two and five minutes out of the water like from Ballarat last one 26 minutes yeah but your fourth place getting out of the water in like 31 32 minutes like a huge well head it's and that that's no special ability it's just the fact that I can swim yeah did this being really did being really good at swimming kind of give you a I guess

a false sense of security and a false sense of how good you were um without that necessarily no I always sort of had bit of doubt yeah that I was not ready to race ever yeah and I never fully committed a race and I think that's one thing that kind of shits me yeah I never never gave a hundred percent yeah I've only ever had one race where I was like yeah I did well I'm stoked I went hard from start to finish yeah which is kind of this morning in four years of racing yeah

yeah cuz I guess it'd be a lot of people who you'd be competing against and probably beating that it'd just be busting their balls exactly can wake up exactly and I would always half-assed training there'd be a few sessions that I absolutely loved and would always just go balls out yeah the rest of us would pull it out early if I could do you regret that mindset now looking back on it I do I regret that more the attitude towards training yeah because it set me up for failure yeah other things but at the same

time if I had have gone harder in triathlon or committed more to triathlon I don't think that lifestyle is where I want to be right now anyway cool so so I've been for a reason yeah I think so I think my half-assed attitude sort of happened for a reason it's not a lifestyle that I enjoyed yeah cuz it'd be work and trying you trying for three sports it consumes your life yeah so it's much easier to try for one sport and have a couple of days off yeah five days training two days off it's great

definitely triathlon you really don't have a day off yeah because it's you're always moving to something that talking to someone we both know Mark Simpson in the podcast like having that having that conversation for those are listening at home Josh brought me a coffee but it was a sweet mocha which is you're doing yeah courtesy of dill from conflict which is the worst coffee in the world except for a dirty chai anyway talking to Mark Mark Simpson about that I kind of like as a coach you have a really good idea of what your athletes

go through amazing yeah and and hear it from his point of view as a coach slash athlete slash business owner and just how much time he was putting into triathlon and anyone who gets to that level would all be the same it's it's more than a part-time job like it's a complete lifestyle change and something that needs to be you need to be kind of all in oral or you'll end up failing or like falling out of love with it like like I guess you did so after that for four to five months of nothing

what was the what was it driver to get yourself moving and get your body moving in because obviously you had that knee injury and you hadn't done much rehab and you hadn't done the things you need to do or something that's what's done the things that someone who was fully committed would have done what was your kind of next steps from there I definitely tried to get back four worlds yeah but four weeks out was when I had to pull the pin yeah I wouldn't have been able to erase off the training that I've done

yeah so I sort of did the right rehabs up until then yeah and then I was gave up getting out of it yeah took a lot of effort and I like I like knowing the fact that I did it so like getting out of it I mean that's what I sort of pride myself quite highly on the back that I did it by myself yeah but it's the timeline when when was world's meant to be September yeah yeah and then you had and then say how long well yeah today that will be in September 2016

yeah yeah yeah yeah 2016 months ago yeah yeah and then by probably fed I was starting to sort of find the wheels again so yeah two months in the lead up to that I sort of started getting back in the pool yeah just to try and get moving and I can't remember when I officially signed up for my swim I had to um send in an application sort of thing to be able to do it yeah and that took a little bit of stuff and around yeah for everyone that doesn't know fill us in on

the swim what's the uh why did I do it what is it and and what was the process like to act just enter um which way don't start with with those questions start with what is it so it's called ms mega swim normally tamed I've done it for four years normally you get together with 40 on people so you got teams of 15 yeah you'll jump at the jump in the pool at midday on a Saturday and finish swimming at midday on Sunday so yes tag team however long you want to swim so you might

swim 400 meters tag team to your next person or you might even do an hour stint or something like some people time for four years and you never really gained traction in regards to raising funds yeah because yes it sounds like a cool achievement and it sounds like a lot of time but 15 people sort of yeah it's achievable yeah so I decided to sort of take a different tact and just do it by myself so yourself in a pool swimming laps for 24 hours yeah so I did a park in Frankston yeah again jumped

in Saturday midday had a all mapped out had quite a few people on my side yeah talk me through the process to get there before we go to the address because that was because it was a long process yeah yeah and and I guess we spoke about this a little bit before the podcast but your I think when you came like you you told us you were gonna be thinking about doing it and he told us you're doing it and then you told us a little thing and then like you were getting wrong you were

getting rolling with it yeah and you obviously asked us for help and sport and things like that and we'll happen like we all happy to support you but it was really interesting like talking you now compared to talking you back then when you were thinking about it mmm like I see you as a completely different person yeah from my point of view as a coach because I saw you as someone and like I'm sure you'd probably agree in certain aspects of someone that wasn't ready to take people's advice yeah and so when so when you

asked me I remember you asked me if you thought if I thought you could do it and like I said yes cuz of course I thought you could do it but I was doubting your ability to listen to the people you need to listen to what was that process like stuff yeah I really really had to put my ego aside yeah and rule five minute rule five I haven't read your board for a while mate rule five very good put your ego on the hook yeah yeah and it's good because I've seen you've seen you

seen that progress in that process of you actually doing that so yeah get taught me through the mindset of going you know what I need to put my ego aside for this so you asked what made me do this swim yeah few reasons yeah some selfish reasons nothing wrong with self one of the unselfish reasons was I was working a cafe yeah long story short as German that came in every single day yeah somewhat able-bodied when he came in had a bit of a gimpy limp yeah and by the time I was actually leaving he

was on a walking frame and could hardly even stand would need help getting getting seated yeah and he would come every single day and when I was leaving I teed up time it sounds see you around but in reality probably not yeah because in the one-and-a-half years he regrets regret really badly multiple squares exactly right and so I found out probably midway through that he had MS yeah it really struck a chord the fact that how fast he regressed if that was my dad we shot it yeah I'm so sure if it was anyone in

my family I was yeah and that's what sort of kick-started doing the mega swims I chose the mega swim because I was for the only one my body could handle yeah if I wanted to run a long distance no chance I wanted a little out of white no chance all that kind of stuff sure I could shave my head everybody shaves their head yeah changing my mindset going into it yeah like from that athlete who was very very stubborn and unable to take criticism and advice to someone who so it's leading into all of my

sports I've always had some form natural ability so I could just do it yeah but I haven't necessarily done it right yeah run a long distance and I can do a reasonably quick but my body would die straight after and we all know why instabilities all that kind of stuff yeah the selfish reasons for doing the swim are exactly that sort of take the backseat I gave myself six months which is a fairly long campaign yeah but I've set a massive challenge that put fear into me basically reason I chose that was my original decision

was it's unachievable but enter anyway okay so you when you first entered you didn't think you'd be able to do it no and that's why I do it because I needed to reset her thought yeah reset who I listen to reset how I listen and the only way that I would even get to the start line was it doing exactly that was just take the backseat and just take your time so I gave myself six months yeah I sent you my application you just have to sort of tell them that you you can swim tell

them past results that you have gone through your lessons all that kind of stuff and they would give you a phone call and sort of discuss why you're doing it if how I'm going to do it in reality I will shoot it most of that yeah because I don't know that's over 24 hours so for now yeah this piece of piss but yeah times 24 so it's a long time clearly different kind of fish and then from there I got accepted which was cool yeah and then probably took me two or three weeks to get

in the pool yeah so even from day one it was a battle yeah to reset what I do like just entered a 24-hour swim I've given myself six months I'm not even getting in the pool like what am I doing my life it's an interesting way interesting what those couple of weeks where you didn't get in the pool what was my tell like was it like a like every football a preseason like I've got to get get for a run but then you get three days in you haven't done a run five days in you

have that run then you finally do it exactly it's a serious case of I'll do it tomorrow yeah and we've all been there I'll start on Monday exactly right I'll start on Monday yeah because you said I'll start on Monday you missed Monday and I'll start on Monday yeah you guys a week yeah got in the pool and then slowly actually started putting some laps together yeah decided the coach is probably a good idea I was already coaching for hurricane swim squad yep and the coach that was in place then Nathan Taylor he wanted to

take on the challenge he thought of table yeah providing I put in the work yep my training was definitely hindered but I worked up to some pretty good sessions and looking back I'm really proud of myself for some of the things I actually didn't in training yeah which brings me back to the selfish reasons so this is one of them I've always been afraid of being alone but I absolutely love it so good in the water you can't hear anything yeah you can't just pull off and look at the trees you look at the grounds

well yeah you're stuck in your head they stuck in your head and yeah and essentially have to force yourself to just shut up yeah so now I'm really good at just I don't know phasing out but in a good way I think just being at pace yeah I think yeah and that was the biggest reason so just forgetting what what's happening in the world and just enjoying the fact that you just have no way down kicking the legs and swinging your arms around and exactly right I'm floating and by the time you're done you don't

even you hundred-percent autonomous you just doing the movements and you aren't in a different world and that was that was a huge part of it just teach myself it's okay to be alone yeah I like that that's important because like it's something that I've explored a little bit over the last six months like traveling by myself for a while and and going on a trip purely like three two days purely for that solitude of being by myself and I think it's it's a it's a tool that we can use to kind of reset ourselves and

center ourselves and get out of our bubble and just be without yeah like without our own in a model of telling us so we have to do something we have to be something we have to look look like something or whatever yeah and then we get rid of the external monologue as well and we're just us how do you how have you I will go back to you to me in a second but how have you adopted that being alone into I guess this like your new mindset I think the biggest thing is maybe okay

with being alone as time to be old as essentially maybe being okay with walking away yeah from things yeah cuz I used to struggle I always loved a good argument just for just for the sake of it just just for fun just yeah no idea why it's just perhaps a shit attitude yeah but maybe I can't being alone then maybe okay with walking away and not worrying and not thinking I should have said this just at that yeah I can just walk away and be alone and it doesn't matter it just doesn't matter so a

lot of relationships are better now because of that still sneaks in the occasion yeah oh yeah I think like that like even the most discipline people in the world is still gonna want to like take that easy option sometimes I think exactly rotten to be mindful of that that's where you were you don't forget it because you like it to be a big learning experience in your life you want to be able to go that's where I was that's where I don't want to get back to you know this is where I am now here

are the things I do do you practice practice mindfulness meditate and things like that no I go back to my swim cool I think that's really centered me yeah it's all really sending me the fact that I'm okay swimming at midnight means I'm okay doing killing me something in the world yeah so I don't know in my mind it's a really really cool achievement for a million different reasons yeah man it's an amazing chip how many so you ended up told me taught me through I don't want to get to swim yet talk me through

the support leading up to the same I'm like you obviously I think had a huge I guess huge community by a lot of people in the community got around you and supported you in what you were doing and a huge amount of people didn't yeah a huge amount of people didn't believe I'd do it yeah that's not surprising yeah with my past I knew there'd be plenty of people saying yeah you're not going to do it yeah do you blame them no cool so well we're just we have a chat before this even start yeah

you wouldn't coach me so no no cuz I like I wouldn't have coached you cuz I wouldn't have thought you would listen yeah I think the big thing like for any athlete for any person who wants to be coach or wants to get somewhere you need to put your your full faith and like a you're on a hook like you need to take out that narcissism and just let your like like I said before you hire a coach or you hire someone because they got what they do and you need to allow them to do

that and I think if I tried to coach you then or like or if you tried to like train with any of us at Virtus we would have had a really real struggle trying to get you get you to do the things that we knew you needed to do and like that's a process that you've gone through and figured out that and now you're aware of it and now you'll put yourself in a position where I would and am happily getting like happy to coach you now because I know you'll listen hmm and I know

you'll you'll use those learnings of the past to to help yourself get to where you want to get to yeah huge impact was actually Jesse bias as well yeah shut up I said yeah was it he always expressed his disappointment and I think that really hits home yeah stumbling through something what I was doing if I have asked anything you'd be like Mike what's point what do you don't like just wasting everyone's time exactly even I was getting paid he genuinely cared and he he was one really really good people throughout the process he looked

after my shoulders along with many other people like shout-out moon times in a second so yeah yeah Asheville Greg day Jamie Stratton and recovery all those people looked after my body especially Jamie Stratton I was on the weekly and they're probably two and a half months later yeah cuz obviously my training ramped up well and truly yeah looking back I just was I don't know how to I right now definitely wouldn't commit to it but though all of those people expressed disappointment if I didn't do the right thing yeah and that's what kept me going

I think I was like I'll just point them so don't do that again what about this I think it's it's really easy like one of the things that you start to realize I think is you get a bit older it's really easy to put yourself down and talk like yeah what's up out of stuff and things like that and let yourself down when you've got other people to hold yourself accountable to then those challenges that you go fuck I couldn't do this by myself become all that more achievable because you've got the support of the

people around you yeah and I think having that really solid support network even if you didn't necessarily do all the things that they said they would do it allowed you to mature and and understand that okay I was wrong I wasn't listening and things like that and makes you a better person it's just part of the journey right yeah and there's a lot of people in the world that I've probably pissed off and all that kind of stuff yeah especially a vertice like I can pretty much guarantee that 90% of you guys wouldn't want me

around back then back then yeah back then yeah and that's fair and that's it and it is fair it's good to be able to have have that hindsight to change the way because that'll change the way you perceive now like you need to be able to understand that and accept that and yeah and kind of move on yeah and in return I hope that what they run it better sort of doesn't see me as a person now kind of thing yeah they're willing to say good I yeah they weren't back then yeah that's that's the

cool thing like we have everyone has the ability to change the way either you perceive yourself or the way perceived by others it just takes action and consistency and continuity and and like for my just take showing up like showing up and just being the person you want to be I have I just started watching um the new karate kid series we had it it's fucking awesome if you see that it's great it's more awesome because the nostalgia but I remember watching karate kid when I was growing up and and like didn't really understand the

metaphor the importance of the bonsai trees yeah and I was one of the episodes I was watching yesterday was like Daniel Daniel-san was talking about was talking about the bonsai trees and it's talking about like that tree is a metaphor for you because you can look at the tree and you can you can just look at the tree and don't worry about anything else and kind of figure out okay this is what the tree looks like now here's what I want the tree to look like and then you've got to take the action to to

change that tree in and whatever that tree that can look however you want it to in the future it just takes action and discipline yeah and a bit of inspiration to get there and I think that's a really cool a really cool metaphor for life and for us because we all fuck up we all do shit we don't like we all let ourselves down at times and but the only person that can that is in charge or that's responsible for changing that is us yeah and you've been able to kind of grab that mindset by

the balls more or less last 12 months and and start changing it which is good swing was probably my bonsai tree good something you can keep coming back to it all right now let's talk about this one okay so 24 hours yeah what was your and I'm sure you can put yourself back into into the mindset you're in because I'm sure you would have thought about a lot since then yeah the 24 hours leading up to it how did you feel oh it knows the excitement was it wasn't knows was a doubt there's no doubt

and I think that's what I was most excited about good I knew that I'd missed some sessions mainly through health I had seven middle-year infections in my later like yeah it's just ridiculous that's stopping it in the pool but the sessions I did do I did not feel tired whatsoever like I did 12 15k sessions and I got out so I can go again yeah and I knew I was ready good yeah I was ready gone in standing on the sand blocks before it started same feeling or yeah honey I was ready I did not

have doubt I knew I would finish yeah good I knew I'd finish and that was that was really cool because I've never had something where I said yeah I'm gonna nail this so complete opposite mindset so when you first signed up when you're like I don't think we do it yeah complaints me complete especially with some of the session layouts and stupidity looking back they're just stupid yeah not through sighs just time time of day but I did it and yeah having to back up in the afternoon and do more and all that kind of

stuff I don't know just looking back I was like I can do that and still work full-time as a landscaper yeah I was like I'm ready yes that's impressive having a juggle of the yeah all the extra things yeah talk me through the race took me through that like just from you yeah your point of view 24 hours worth um when they have the plan yeah now the nutrition I had knowledge out at Amy G not eating fit up in a two rack she was a huge support so that was nothing I was doing I

went from living on junk food one half liters of iced coffee a day coca day the liquid obviously and change that to spot-on food I was happy with what I was eating and then the four days leading up absolutely nailed everything that she had written down today three three days and two days out I have to see carb load 800 grams of carbs a day which is ginormous seven or eight meals delicious a lot of life just pasta and rice and chicken and good problem to have and I think that that's really the turning point

that I actually nailed the nutrition plan leading as well yeah that's never been good for me yeah it's always been something you've kind of squibbed out on yeah I'm just like yeah yeah kind of attitude it's easier to buy than cook and it is yeah but it's not good for you so yeah and then I was ready getting in the water I felt good didn't feel anything in my stomach I didn't feel ill or anything yeah and then buzzer went off and just sort of started swimming yeah just stuck to my early plan I pretty

much broke the 24 hours down into Ali so each hour had a different food and drink to consume yeah and there was a four-hour rotation so the first four hours I'd be certain things per hour yeah repeat times however many yeah six yeah so I said isn't it said how many no six six times four good yeah good recovery I like it yeah so I had about seven minutes off every hour so in reality I didn't swim for 24 hours yeah but long enough yeah close enough yeah I needed a so that's there and drink

and consume and stuff like so on your back yeah yeah yeah just just stuck to plan of 3k now yeah and then at about hour eight I reduced it down to two and a half K now yeah had a bit of trouble my toughest was probably 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. because I normally go to bed yeah and what are you doing yeah my body was like it's time to sleep and because I when I push off the wall I do push off probably about six meters away yeah so I'm sort of pushing off doing nothing for six meters yeah and that's when I was like half nodding off stays my arms and wake up again yeah 12 p.m.

hit and I was good as gold I knew I was going to finish because I stopped thinking about how many hours to go like I wasn't thinking I got 20 hours to go 19 hours to go it sounds huge so they got to 12 I can come up yeah it sounds like nothing yeah some well that's the important thing with anything that's injured space a long-term it's just breaking like any or any goal or anything it's just breaking into little bits like yeah like whether it's like a financial goal or on my hundred grand you

cool will split it into weeks and days and whatever or if it's a lifting goal and I've got six months to get to this or if the distance go or whatever mmm soon as you start breaking up into that your body deals with it really well yeah or you've mine deals with it really well and you can start to go okay I've just got to get to this next corner well yeah this next this next turn and then the last when did you when did you start it you might it might be all of it

when you start enjoying it poor I enjoyed the first hour yeah then probably the last two hours so in reality it wasn't that enjoyable yeah but to be honest I don't remember I don't remember the whole middle section really well I'm truly zoned out yeah and I think that was really stoked that I did yeah just reinforce that I did it for the right reason there's your reset yeah like I actually did it yeah maybe I sleep swimming just fell asleep high chance my chance just became so autonomous that's really cool what was it like

like fishing at 24-hour mark yeah like that's cool go back to that go back to that time and talk us through it I think the coolest part about me actually finishing is touching well I didn't touch the wall because I'll swim back on my mom I got a half lap yeah you can't obviously yeah but I stood up and that was when I realized I had support yeah but up until then I boys it felt like you're by yourself like in the race or only in their life and yeah in life I know I've always

sort of been the elephant in the room I'm walking into vertice I knew I was sort of under there to see bias walking into school no one told me all that kind of stuff yeah but I stood up and looked up and there was 35 40 people they're looking at me and clapping like I know I know it was for the performance that I did the same time all those people were my that's a reflection of your like I think that's a reflection of your chain changes in character and changes in in what you value

and what you realize is important and that those that mindset shift is probably reflected upon that feeling of support you had yeah definitely and friends that I made along the way for the campaign and put into your fundraisers and stuff like that I've made lifelong friends yeah which is really really cool awesome and even coming up to like through this period at the moment because it's one year from now those all those memory things yeah just seeing those campaigns pop up and then sharing and saying this is one of the most proud of my life

my stuff he's like very cool they didn't even do it but they're proud of being a part of it and that's awesome yeah it's amazing yeah really cool but I don't think I inspire people on the way which was really cool you definitely did it's nice to be able to to for you to look back and look at it as an achievement and look at how many people lodge you impacted yeah how many laughs did you swim I think about 2,400 laps you know bad there's 60.5 K that's insane yes that's very impressive it's really

cool how much right money did you raise I've ticked over 20,000 it's incredible yeah sorry I was 20,000 eighty bucks or something good feeling yes really cool I didn't get my goal yeah did not care yeah I would have been stuck with 10 grand yeah cuz 10 grand a lot of money yeah but factor is 20 grand and that was more so in the last probably three months and the biggest spike was um besides fundraisers I was at the big big chunk of money going in the biggest spike was the fact that one of my

mates was there the entire time Tom Bowman yeah yeah he was there the entire thing didn't go to sleep I think he counted that for me so we need a lot counter yeah but he was doing live feeds onto Facebook and tag me and that's cool I think I raised like two and a half thousand just do that 20 hours away well that's that's the time I think we're it's real people yes people feel like they're a part of it and you're actually able to support you yeah then so it was just cool that they're

they're the people I reckon with the doubters yeah in reality and it's cool that they're like he's done it here's the money I don't like ever here's some money so it was just cool it's good because it's it's kind of like you've kind of got two two narratives running alongside each other with you preparing preparing and then completing this challenge like you've got the narrative of you trying to do something for people that I'm gonna do anything for you and you're gonna do something for but this community of people and raise money for them and

at the same time you're doing it like for that reason of figuring out who you are and what you want yeah and where you're at and yeah it's cool to see those two narratives go alongside each other and be there to support each other and to create that result that I assume you're fairly proud of yeah I'm proud good you should be there's not many things I'm actually generally battle in my life and that's one that's gonna be out there for the rest of my life awesome that's amazing would you do it again I'm considerate

cuz I that's gonna sound stupid I didn't swim as far as I want to think so I fell 4k short of a goal yeah yeah so what was your for 64 64 and a half years for enough yeah so cuz I would have broken the 50-meter record but in reality I got the 25-meter records I do 25-meter pool yeah so like I'm a same same I did again to be a 50 but I hate 50s so yeah so would it be easier harder easier in the sense of less turns yeah harder in the sense of

mental strength yeah cuz 50 meters feels like a hundred meters mm-hmm whereas 25 it's just breaking all the 20 hours in real feel like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah one lap count like 25 meters got one thousand meters went on here the end yeah at the same time the last hour I was swimming same place I was in my first first lap what's impressive I was pretty happy that's very very cool that's reinforcement I did do the training what was the was it come down after the event like I don't have one I don't go

back to work I had the Monday off and went back to work Tuesday and just carried on like the worst effect that I had was the chlorine burn yeah well I was just I've got them scars from soon yeah so I just cuz it's in the chlorine for so long and that's designed to kill shit so it killed my skin yeah that's fair but I don't know just maybe not yeah just keep rolling yeah how did your training change after after you finish it I had a two or three weeks off I want this one

will be three case insane yeah but I don't mean to swim so I don't care yeah yeah went to rock climbing for a bit yeah just bouldering your base I drop because we can play it was fun just to I don't keep moving and yeah that ended up destroying my back so I've done not too much yeah yeah so how's let's look at how you're dealing with that that back injury and how you know the rehab and the process now compared to how you would know with it 18 months ago well I'm dealing with I

think that's the biggest difference yeah back then I would have thrown in the towel and just dealt with in a way that isn't improved now I'm actually and that's where I think that swim is hugely helped me that things do improve if you just take your time and all that kind of stuff and that's where Greg and I's relationship is definitely improved I think yeah because they would be in the same boat as you yeah yeah anyway I think you can see you putting in the work and yeah and improving and yeah and I think

that's something that Greg and I have had a really few really good chats about not you in particular but just that client coach or client practitioner relationship where where the expectations are laid out from the start and respected from both sides like I think it's for any athlete that's injured or and coming back to rehab or any athletes that's trying to achieve something they haven't achieved before need to have faith in the process and have faith in the time it takes to actually work through that process and not try and rush it not try and

skip skip steps and and things like that like for an example there's a an ACL there's an ACL kind of checklist right to get people back from an ACL injury reconstruction back to sport in 21 weeks there's a checklist that if and there's research to back this up I can't remember where the guys are in in the US yeah Greg's Greg was shared it and I can if anyone wants it shoot me an email or comment on one of these posts and I'll find it for you but it was basically 21 weeks here back to

an ACL with a something like a 0% rate recurrence rate if you tick all those boxes which is insane like it's with the ACL epidemic like hitting junior sport and senior sport and amateur sport in Australia especially and like the rest of the world it's it shows the importance of ticking the boxes and following the process and actually doing the things you need to do and listening to the professionals because you know I am if I need advice on and say how to fix TV or how to fix a car or something I'll go to

the person that does that right but training and nutrition because there's something that everyone does everyone kind of thinks they know better and you definitely did and now you now you understand the importance of putting your faith in in people like Greg so it's impressive I don't want people say that that helps I just don't make it feel a little bit better yeah yeah and when it's like it when you put in like Greg's got your back now yeah so yeah for sure makes you feel like you've got that support because you do hmm which

is really really important I taught me through taught me through your your dive back into your music mmm I was never in music in reality applied for 16 years that's in music man yeah yeah but again half-assed yeah half-assed 16 years half-assed yeah so I start when I was no one in primary school I played a few different instruments in sand always been brass and when I did my back I felt myself swallowing again yeah I I had two months of not seeing it about my back yeah I kept solving off for work yeah we're

going home and tear up a little bit go to bed yes it's all I could really do yeah submitted to work we all do and I found myself spiraling and the only thing I could do was play music yeah but I found it really difficult to get past it I got slammed so hard for it at school yeah I believe in general let alone playing a brass instrument like that's just not cool it is cool yeah I really don't care now yeah and yeah when I started rehabbing with my back yeah I decided well can't

try and simple as that there's nothing I can really do because of what I've done unfortunately I can't use my core can't do anything so most sports are pretty much out yeah even swimming because I couldn't I wasn't swimming you could do my legs yeah and decided to get the fuck over get over my fear and the biggest step I did for that was posting yeah on Facebook so you put your put a video of you playing up no I think the first thing I did was post a photo I went to one of my

my good little places that I go to this sort of sit and chill so I guess it is sort of a form of meditation yeah I go there and watch the beach yeah and it's in the woods nobody can really here yeah because you're up on a hill basis down there and so I just have a play there was just a that was the kickstart of my actually practicing so I've never practiced in my life yeah until this yeah so you never really practiced unless you were in a lesson or had you know I had

I had banned on Tuesday every every week I mean yeah that was the time you play that was the time I played yeah and I guess after 16 years you can do that because that's enough lessons as such yeah it's hard to get get into it out and actually just happen play and I was like fuck it take a photo it's cool backdrop yeah me playing in the woods yeah it's pretty cool both do it get over it and I did and the response is what inspired me yeah talk me through the response and then

your I guess progress from that that point in time the response was just only positive there was love reacts it was like all that kind of shit yeah just that alone made me feel good nothing like a hit of dopamine from Instagram yeah yeah yeah but the comments of common ground that there's other people in the world that got slammed because of it yeah but they don't care yeah that's right I did but they don't anymore and that sort of inspired me like you know what they are right yeah I don't know what my problem

is I'm sure something I think playing brass is cool but I like it doesn't care you do you mean yeah and that sort of sparked me to practice more yeah end up joining a second band so I play with Frank and see brass now they needed a corner class I ended up jumping from tenor because I have enough tenor horns yeah went to corner and then started on third corner now was done on head chair corner yeah which is pretty cool so we're playing solos at the Stedfords and shit like that and that inspired me

practice every day very cool so five minutes at ten minutes whatever yeah I'll leave it out of my case on top of the piano whatever time I walk past I'll just have a quick stuff around on it but that's something and then I was starting to struggle a little bit with doing rehab so ended up having a having to catch up with a mate you'd know him Steve Roberts he'll be on next week oh yeah oh it's a couple of weeks yeah cool yeah yes save I hadn't had practicing him and he's on every time

you walk questions but you play yeah he's like yeah he's like cool do you really have as well yeah I was like yeah good true that's it like if it's in front of your face you can't really ignore it so every time we go and play I was like I'll go do my rehab so I'll play go around to my rehab good advice keep moving on so I think it's just the trigger to remind me because it's not front of mind you know not just thinking all day I should do my rehab that's the interesting

thing we find with people with their rehab and pain and things like that is we find like talking about the seeing it through to the end and finishing your rehab and trust in the process we see such a drop-off with people from the I'm in pain to the I'm not in pain and then that as soon as they hit that I'm not in pain they think oh I can return to sport or I can turn to a lot return to life whatever be but they miss that period of getting them back to the point where

they're actually functional in that sport you're actually able to do it without pain or they're able to do it without increasing the risk of over another injury and you know we know the biggest risk of a recurring injury is having the first injury like so if you see it out and follow it through then those risk factors drop significantly and it's why people range in themselves because they stop early but yeah this obviously allows you to keep it and keep it just tick the box off tick the box daily yeah yeah exactly awesome man awesome

what what advice would you have for for future job for future Josh for past Josh so I want to tell my past self yeah give me like give me 17 18 year old self take the backseat yeah yeah that's that's huge for me I think cuz taking the backseat you still in the car there's still someone driving you still gonna end up somewhere yeah yeah so you don't necessarily need to drive if you don't know where you're going so that's sort of how I batched a lot of what I do now okay but I don't

know where I'm going I'm taking the backseat yeah letting someone else guide me that way yeah next time I'll drive and just go with the flow yeah yeah because then everything that happens is organic I think yeah exactly and when you and when you saw it was driving yeah yeah definitely and you see a lot more when you're not driving yeah because you don't have a tunnel vision just looking at the one thing exactly right that's really interesting I think I know the answer this question but have you had a defining moment in my life

yeah probably two my swim and my back injury yeah yeah those two things are the main things that are taught me to have actually yeah apart from the swim what are you most proud of whoa what makes you think this one's my president cuz you said it before I've been listening I must say that I've probably never never missed an opportunity with moving forward with the Korean yeah I think that's I've never had a fear of leading a company if something not only better pops up but everybody's like oh have you had five jobs in

six years yeah but those five jobs are standing for a minimum of a year to get the experience for those jobs yeah and I see them as stepping stones yeah I'm listening so everything I've done up until the job I'm in now which I'll be for a long time there's not much that would be offered to me that I'd be like sweet that's cool I have led to this job I think yeah that's really interesting cuz I think a lot of people see that change or that step sideways is a step backwards whereas it's just

it's just not you know like you're I was having this conversation with KP last night and she's not sure if she wants to be a teacher forever and like my advice is just to trust okay cool you don't want you don't love what you're doing right now let's try something else well let's try something else like take three steps sideways and you might figure it out and she's like but what if I could like take me 25 years to get to here what if it takes me 25 years to figure it out I'm like cool

you get to 50 you've got another 50 years to enjoy yourself and yeah be doing what you love like this is what it is yeah 100% and we can't and if we put that time pressure or that that pressure on ourselves to figure it all out we're never gonna figure it all out yeah and I think that ability to look at your progress as just that as progress is incredibly important incredibly powerful yeah like when I left real estate that was for my mental happiness kinda yeah people thought I was crazy in real estate yeah

even one dad was like no don't you make a good money I was like good money yes and I did take a hundred steps back I went to a laborer yeah I've been a laborer before I went back to a laborer yeah but that reminded me that trade isn't what I want to do yeah especially laboring yeah no eventual labor is yeah good on you that's for sure yeah but it reminded me that sales is sort of where I want to be and I complained to a couple of people that I might be in 20

bucks an hour and I complained to the right people and opportunity arose and went through the process of a job and could be happier awesome man so take a step back definitely work sometimes yeah even if you don't know you don't have to look at it a step back it's not a step back it's just a change yeah it's a step back in the backseat yeah kind of definitely if you could be remembered in one sentence what would it be the only person well that's a hard one easy man yeah the next one's an easy

one next one's an easy one possibly inspiration that change is achievable nice I like that it's good give me those demos out of my life yeah yeah good so now you're looking off the floor and you're thinking yeah yeah give me a favorite fun fact favorite fun fact there's an easy question but penguins have knees yes that's creepy yeah we need to think of it yeah shit the penguins have nice shit if I if you're playing at home please Google Anatomy of a penguin I'm not gonna be creepy if money wasn't an issue and you

couldn't fail what would you do with your life it's really probably corny and cheesy corny is fine but explore every bacon trough of the world nice because there's cool shit the bottom there's cool shit the top yeah I like it yeah I like it on that night if you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be and why does that be one cuz I got three locations and I'm never travel never I've been around Australia so I've never been spots never been out of the show okay cool cool never been overseas but I'd

like to start with either New Zealand Japan or Vancouver cool all three in both seasons so I'm gonna go mountain bike riding I wanna go snowboarding awesome in all three that's cool I've done Japan I've done New Zealand they're both incredible yeah yeah that's just hundred cent my jam is there a reason why you haven't traveled yeah young dumb stupid with money yeah here's the matter is they've just had to save yeah yeah so my opportunity of saving is only come now because I had to clear on my dad yeah so my side thing was

getting back to square zero yeah so when's your first trip I'll get New Zealand next year also my work is tough because you've only got a small window of truth for travel and it's the middle of it yeah being in the pool industry is like through summer don't even think about taking taking an hour yeah that's it yeah hopefully June on July next year I like to get easy one I think that's my first protocol I like it because it's my backyard really yeah it'll be very cool awesome do you have a morning routine pardon

do you have a morning routine yeah I just set my alarm for 10 minutes before I leave get up and leave Chris yeah easy simple yeah awesome what is success to you um being content I think that's something I'm finally finding yeah things might go wrong but I'm still content good cuz they're all sort of just meeting experiences of themselves yeah I think being content have you looked into stylism no I've got some books where I don't read I've got some audio books where amazing I've got some apps where I won't go and don't dance

that rabbit hole question asked before what you what are you proud of yeah flip side of that what are you ashamed of my attitude your pass attitude yeah yeah yeah yeah my pass actually that I did cause so much conflict yeah yeah with myself with others quite often I was the center of chaos is what it is like yes I'm ashamed of it but it's just part of the process I guess I guess not a disappointment short ashamed but it's not a disappointment yeah all right second last question do you have a hero who you

look up to and why oh reason I said two parties because it doesn't have to be one person hmm two years ago probably not yeah now my dad's definitely one also because what he's created is pretty cool pretty cool and he's done it essentially solo he's looked after a family really well yeah might not have spoken to us on a big level but he looked after us yeah I feel like there is other people in my world that are mentors and I don't know people I appreciate yeah I don't think I'm a hero though so

I'll I'll tweet this question I'll change the question a little bit if you could invite three people to dinner who would they be and why that's a good question without sounding like I want to marry him probably great to be honest he's uh he's got a really nice way of looking at things yeah he's cool calm collected yeah and he's a big big fan of little wins yeah and that's all I've done for my past probably 12 months just enjoy the little wins just right in the back of little wins and hope hope to credit

a big win yeah my favorite thing about Greg is just his integrity he just honey no he knows who he is he knows what he what he expects and and what he hmm what he can what he will deal with from others and if you want if you don't fit into that then yeah without a big can of worms about him that's in for him to talk about but he's experienced similar things to me yeah and yeah we relate well I think we talked about it a little bit on his podcast it was really interesting

yeah podcast number four if you are if you haven't listened to it and that was a guess it was early I think it was for who are the two other people give me two more question why don't you read by the way I just skipped over that I know why I've only recently even told my boss yeah because he didn't really understand why I struggled so much I struggle to comprehend yeah yeah so it's probably some more just let's go yeah I can write really well I can read really well yeah and I can retain

information really well yeah but if I'm reading the information I won't return it okay it's really interesting yeah audiobooks and podcasts baby yeah and I'll listen to plenty of podcasts and educational stuff but I'm the kind of guy that you would need for example at the moment we're learning about hey come to work yeah unfortunately which sucks yeah but that's just give me a whole whole brochure thing I'm just a whole bunch of random shit I don't care about yeah so I can't read so we're getting a heat pump in we're gonna pull it apart

and put it back together and I'll know exactly all about it that's good way to do it that's awesome it's important to understand how you learn as well yeah learn a little bit different yeah last question for you you knew this one was coming so you should have a good answer what's your favorite quote read it free of course it no damn read it off my Instagram no very fond it sucks come on shut up I know it's here somewhere just calm down sometimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness and everything to do

with strength good I like it on that note mate thank you for coming on absolutely good from you how can people find you on the social medias and the instagrams and and they search my name Facebook's just Joshua Kaiser and insta's I think it's Joshua J Kaiser all one word beautiful man thanks coming appreciate it you