S3E60 · Mitch Rowe, again

Welcome to the Virtus Performance Podcast. Just before we get into this episode, just asking you all if you're listening on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, whatever platform. If you could just leave a rating or a like or subscribe to the page, follow us on Spotify. Again, whatever platform you're listening to, if you wanna help grow the podcast and spread the good stuff to as many people as possible, your contribution would really, really help. On this episode, we have got Mr. Mitchell Rowe before he shoots off to the States for three, four, however many months he's away for.

If you couldn't tell already, we're sort of hooking through all the coaches and the staff here at Virtus, sort of doing a bit of a 2023 check-in and look forward to 2024 just to catch up with what's been going on after we've had a few months off the podcast. Mitch has had a lot going on. Obviously, he's shooting off to the States in a couple of weeks' time. He's got his new ambassadorship with Lululemon, which you'll chat about. He's been on this sort of 12 to 18 month journey of growth and self-development and betterment. So

we dive deep into that and talk a bit of shit for about 20 or 30 minutes at the end with some fan questions and some general banter as well. So again, leave us a like or a comment or a follow, five star rating, whatever, and be greatly appreciated. Enjoy the app. You're off to the States in a couple of weeks. - Yeah, at this stage. - Have you bought a ticket yet? - No. - Why not? - I had been waiting for a few things to like fall in line and organize itself. - Are you allowed to divulge on what those things are yet or is that still like a whole semi?

- No, no, it's just a whole heap of like, just life and organization things. And I don't really have time to think about it until like a week ago. - I heard on the grapevine it was job things. - Well, yes and no, but like, that's just like future opportunities, like it wasn't a necessity or anything. It was just a if button and maybe. - I thought you were gonna say future Mitch problem, which would have been very on brand. - I didn't say. - What are the plans for the States when you get there? - So I'll be in New York for Christmas, New Year.

So the plan is to fly out somewhere around the 15th, give or take, that's a Wednesday problem. So by the time this comes out, now it's a future Mitch problem. And then be in New York for Christmas, New Year, and then go North to Boston on like the second or third of Jan and then go Boston, Toronto, Chicago for like a week, week and a half. And then go from Chicago potentially to the snow to Banff to Whistler, somewhere in there for Canada. - So you live? - Yeah, and then I just got it. That's again, that's a very, very future Mitch problem.

I'm gonna get around to that. But with the weather, it's kind of volatile. So it just depends on honestly what the weather is. And then from there, if I don't go to Banff and Whistler, I'll go straight to Vancouver and then drive through Portland down Oregon to Eugene, to Nike, down through there. Jump down to San Diego from Eugene. Visit a couple of golf centers and then go from San Diego to Texas. Spend a couple of weeks in Texas and then get to Florida to play golf, my old man. Second, two and a half weeks in the Feb, the 78th.

Two of the first week of March. Haven't worked out those yet. And then go from March, first week of March to Japan for a month or three weeks. - Is this your first Christmas away from home? - Yep. - How does mom and dad feel about that? - They're fun. They're fun. Actually, I think Christmas is, well it's meant to be at our house this year anyway, so. - What do you hope New York City Christmas is gonna look like? Will you just be flying solo or you got people over there? - I do have a few friends over there or acquaintances.

I wouldn't say friends, but yeah, I just kind of hang out, fly solo. Sure I'll find some Australian somewhere and hang out at the bar. That's normally what happens in New York. I hope it snows. That's the main thing, honestly. If it snows for Christmas, yeah, that'd be great. - That's the dream. - I haven't looked at the forecast, but I'd rather just like, it happened to be honest. - It's a trip of leisure then, like there's not a great, 'cause I remember the last time you went to the States, it was very much like business, was it not?

- Yeah, I went over for a couple of courses, whereas this time I'm not going over for, well I haven't looked for anything in particular. I don't know if that's, might find something the next week, but it's more for travel, holiday, chill. - You taking your clubs over? - No, I'm making dad bring them over when he does. So thanks to Mark Millard, I'm organizing a travel case. - Nice. - Dad'll bring those over. - Does that get pretty X-y too? Oh, I suppose it's not really flying them over, it's the bitch of carting it all over the States.

- Yeah, it's just like an extra package really, that's it. But yeah, dad's in charge of that, so kind of not my problem. - What are you most excited for in the trip? - Oh, to just stop and smell the roses, honestly. Just do whatever I want. - When was the last time you'd done that? You've been pretty fucking go, go, go for the last eight years. - Just did that. Probably, I mean like COVID obviously, to an extent. - Yeah. - And then last time I went away was, might be 2018, 2019, I reckon it was 2019.

Yeah, 2019 I went to Europe. - Yeah. - So it's probably the last time I actually stopped for longer than a couple of months. Like this time of the year now, like November to Feb, like summer is always slower 'cause no footy, no uni. But actually stopped and didn't have to be anywhere for anything. Yeah, 2019. - You're still online coaching in the process? - Yeah, yeah, I still do some like business development and like hustle stuff. Well, actually yes, hustle. - Yeah, we'll get there. - Yeah, actually yes, hustle. But also just like business, like brand development, trying to create something that's not got my face attached to it basically.

- Let's jump straight to that 'cause you brought it up. What is hustle? - Yeah, I do that a lot too, unintentionally. - You know, we've seen it sort of popping up on socials, sort of being teased. What is it? Can you divulge it? - Yeah, yeah, it's not secret. It's just waiting for me to actually deep dive and actually do something with it. So it'll be like its own little brand without having my head attached to it. Which what that looks like, that's a huge image problem. - We like seeing you noggin though. - Yeah, but you know, it's pretty big.

So something a bit prettier to look at sometimes is a bit nicer. But it'll be basically a brand, whether that's podcast, whether that's coaching, whether that's merch, whether that's whatever the hell I wanna do with it. - So you've moved on from rule 13. 'Cause this has been simmering for a while. - Yeah, so rule 13 was like a little partnership merch thing that we were gonna do. And then just the process of getting that done, like just wrong timing. Well, not wrong timing, more just like didn't have the capacity to put energy into it. So it just kind of like filtered out a little bit.

So that was the original plan, but yeah, now just be a brand on it. - Now it's just Mitch things. - Yeah, I don't know, even though like, I was trying to find a name for like for this brand, not for rule 13, for this brand for months. Like chat GBT, everything asked literally 50 people to come up with a name. Like we brainstormed, whiteboarded. And then I don't know, one day just on the gym floor, like hustle came to me. 'Cause that's just, I have no other explanation than it just came to me. So it stuck and we went from there.

- You're going with a purple colorway. Why is that? - Yeah, big, big purple guy. So that'll be, I don't know, it's visually appealing to me. So yeah, like a bit softer. But yeah, that's about as far as it's gotten. That's a seven minute camper job. - Right, right. Yeah, you're not a big camper man, are you? - No, I'm a camper man. I just don't get a lot of time to design stuff. And like, I love designing stuff and spending time doing that side of things. I just don't do a lot of it. But yeah, that was a find a font and go from there.

- So is this troop gonna free up a lot of time for you to actually really dive into this stuff? And by the time you're back, that's gonna be hard launched? - Yeah, pretty much, yep. - Love it. - It will. It'll just, well, it has just simmered it. Like, you know, I've tagged in a bunch of stuff, but I haven't done anything with it. But yeah, just kind of working out what I want it to be, I guess. - Can't see where it goes. And speaking of your big, beautiful melon, it's currently hanging up in the Sorrento Lululemon store.

When was the last time you were on a podcast, by the way? - Very, well. - It wouldn't have been-- - My own one, like ages ago. - Yeah, yeah. So it wouldn't have been since you recently partnered with the Lululemon girls as an ambassador? - Yeah, I reckon. Well, we would have spoke about it on the Monday ones. - Yeah, yeah. - That we used to do, but. - Let's dive a little deeper into that. So when did that sort of all come about and what was the link there and how did that grow? - So, I technically signed as an ambassador in July.

- Yep. - I think it was. I think it's July to June or June, July. Anyway, that two month period somewhere around there. And originally, first of all, I didn't really know it existed. Well, I did, but I didn't to an extent. I knew of-- - You knew it existed for people like Max Gawne and-- - Yeah, exactly. Yeah, 100%. But I didn't. It was another thing I ever really thought about. And we were organizing a Mother's Day run club that was supported by Lulu. They put on flowers and cookies and coffees for everyone, which was great.

And then we were having a meeting about that and they just cold confronted me about it. And it really shocked me to be honest. It took me back a little bit 'cause I didn't really, I understood what it was, but I didn't really think it was something that I would ever do, put it that way. But the funny story about that actually, when they asked me to be, so they didn't actually directly ask me. They did a sneaky and they put it on a napkin, but we're at the Winey Cow in Wellington and I ordered a long black, just normal coffee, whatever.

And then the waitress came back with sparkling water and a napkin. This idiot didn't see the napkin, so I just saw the sparkling water and said, "Oh, thank you very much, appreciate it, no worries." And I looked up and all the girls were just looking at me and I was like, "What did I do? "Is sparkling water frowned upon?" And they gave me a little look down at the table and then on the napkin it just said Ambassador question mark. - So the waitress is in on it? - Yeah, she was in on it from the start.

I walked in and they're already sitting there, so they must've been divulging a plan with the waitress. But yeah, I was completely bemissed by it. I had no idea what was going on. - What is Ambassador Shield? What are the T's and C's? - So it's not a full contract, it's an obligation. But the obligation is, I mean, they set it up really well on the fact that there's not necessarily much that I have to do for it, like actually have to do for it. And they give you opportunities to do whatever you want with it.

I have to post on social media once a month and just tag and hashtag just some brand stuff, which is what I do anyway, so it doesn't really make up. You know, it doesn't-- - It's not extra stuff. - Yeah, exactly, it doesn't add to my week. Well, it adds to my week, but you know what I mean. Extra stuff is probably a better way of putting it. But yeah, they basically give you the keys to do whatever you want from it. So it's not like you have to, you know, promote and do all this kind of stuff.

You absolutely can do that, but it's more community orientated in the fact that they, if you wanna run an event, they'll support you with it, whether they hire the venue or they put on food or they supply journals or something like that. It's more just trying to get, from their point of view, like exposure to the brand, but all the other stuff they do that's not just the activewear. - Yes. - We all know the activewear is fantastic and great, but I think the more value that they have as a business is in the extra stuff they do in community level.

- So it's sort of leveraging their reach and name to bring people together. - Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like, you know, with the activewear, like everyone knows it's high quality stuff and it lasts for a long time and it's comfortable and it's great and it looks great. It sells itself, but the best part of it selling itself is that allows from Little Lemon's point of view to be able to put that money back into community, which is like what the whole part of the ambassador program is. So obviously there's, you know, straight wide ambassadors, but

for each store they have, I don't know if it's every store, but I think for majority of the stores, they have three ambassadors, one for run, one for train and one for yoga. I think they're the options. I don't know if every store has every single one of them. They might have a couple of runs or a couple of trains, depending on the store. But yeah, I'm the run ambassador. Christian who works out of Habit, who they're about to get a brand new gym. He's the train ambassador. And then Carol works out of Warrior Run in Mornington.

She's the yoga ambassador. So three of us, we're just team up. - Good squad. You've had a few good events already with More Than a Run on the weekend. How'd that all go? - Yeah, I went home and had a big nap, I tell you that much. Yeah, I was pretty cactus after that. - Is it pretty labor intensive running one of those events? - I think it can be. Well, I mean, it is, but it's, I want to put on a good event, like, 'cause I know being a part of events, how much enjoyment I get out of it.

And that was a large portion of, you know, me really deep diving the ambassador program is like, as I said, they give you the tools and the keys to do what you want with it. For me, like, that was one of the big things is I wanted to put on, like, cool events and bring people together and connect. So like, I wanted to put on a really good event. And the weekend we had our More Than a Run, Lulu Lemon speaking chair at the CoLab, raising awareness for kind of men's mental health in that space. And the events, it's been on for a couple of years now.

And the whole idea is about, you know, starting the conversation and bringing exposure to men's mental health and awareness and bringing, I guess, community together. So that was on the weekend, teamed up with speaking chair in their movement club. We got 110 people, which was pretty cool to have. And then the More Than a Run guys do a great job in sponsorship and packages. So they sent us a bunch of like Ned's Milk, Dash Sparkling Water, and then Capital Brewing jumped on as like a non-alcoholic beer company. So they sent me all that stuff down from Sydney or from Melbourne and yeah, everyone came down, got their hands on that kind of stuff.

And we also were very lucky with Lulu Lemon, they put on a bit of a product bomb, product test for 50 people that came down, so. - That's, yeah, they give away some product. - I didn't know that was happening until they got there. That was one of those things that was kind of like swimming around in the background and we kind of like floated the idea and like finding budget for that, especially in Movember is quite challenging 'cause there's so many activations that happen. And yeah, when the girls rocked up with their bags and all the product cards, I was pretty, yeah.

I was stoked about it, but I was like, you know, happy that people didn't know it was coming. It was just a surprise. - Nice little surprise. - Yeah, they had to win rock, paper, scissors though to get there. So if you didn't win. - Stiff? - Yeah. But no, a lot of people benefited from that, which is I think, you know, highly valuable obviously, but it's pretty cool from their point of view to be able to put on that kind of donation, I guess. - Yeah, it's very generous. - Very much so. - What's been a highlight of the little ambassadorship so far?

- I think it's probably two things. One's the people in the Lululemon environment. So as a company, it kind of attracts similar people who are doing good things in their communities that they are, I get to connect with as well. So like the people, other ambassadors, even like staff members who work in like corporatey and like more in like the bigger business side of Lululemon, that kind of getting to know them has been great. And also honestly, it's probably just the crew itself down at Soreno. Like I was having this conversation last night, one of the girls that like, I really enjoy, like spending time with them.

'Cause they like, they're all lovely, lovely girls and lovely people and now Will works there. So I can't just say girls anymore. But they like fill my cup hanging out with them. It's not, you know, for someone who spends a lot of time around people all week and people can exhaust me from time to time. Like they, I really enjoy spending time with them. So, and they probably attest to that 'cause I spent way too much time down in that store, so. - Yeah, yeah, it shouldn't drain you, I guess, hanging out with the inner circle.

- No, exactly. Yeah, it's probably those two things. It's just the whole brand itself, to be honest. There's plenty of doors that open up because of it. - They finally got that mail slot taken. Yeah, they were chasing me for that two years ago. - Bell's boyfriend, Will started working there a couple of months ago, I think, so he's loving it. - Yeah, excellent, excellent. What was the name of the event you did at Common Folk? - Here for the present. - That's it, it completely ellipses me. How'd that all go? - It's hard because I keep missing the four.

I was here for the present, so I always kept missing the. But yeah, here for the present, so it's their kind of activation slogan, I guess, for this quarter. - What were the goals for the people that walked into that building the other night? Like, what would they, what'd you hope they walk away with? - So, the night itself was loosely structured off an event that I did in 2018 with them, which is the first time I got exposed to that side of Lululemon. It was also at Common Folk as well, but that night was called Purpose, Vision, and Goals, which is a pretty big part of Lululemon's upskill and development for people, but also for staff members.

That was the first event that I did with them. So, when I signed up, signed up, when I was very lucky to get the ambassadorship, that was the first thing Shanae asked me, like, what do you want to do with it? And that was the first thing on my list, is like, I wanted to run an event just like that to, I guess, bring my community into where the starting point that I started with this kind of whole journey of Lululemon and growth, I guess. The whole kind of reason, or why we set up that

event, was journaling and meditation and mindfulness is the kind of three bigger, overarching words that get used pretty commonly, and I don't think a lot of people understand what they actually mean. - They're almost buzzwords. - Exactly, yep. So, I don't think people fully understand what it actually means to be mindful, and what their values are, and what their purpose is, and what their uniqueness is, and how are they different, and what makes them different. It's easy to think about, but not necessarily easy to write down. So, I guess the whole purpose of that night

is, I was very lucky to have Jessie from Inside Lane come over from Torquay to run most of the event, and guide, kind of shape the path of where we were going, along with a couple of girls from Lululemon who facilitated a lot of the other portions of it. The whole reason that we kind of set it up was to give people a starting point on either going back and revisiting where they have been, or what they've done before. For an example, like Lockie for an example, who does, or spends a lot of time journaling, but drifted off the path, and he would probably even admit this, that he hasn't done a lot of it recently.

So, giving him a fresh restarting point, and maybe, you know, stirring up some juices around, you know, where to start journaling or writing, versus someone like my dad, for example, who was there as well, and would never have done this stuff. - Never done it? - No, and probably never thought he was gonna do it in his life. But, you know, by the end of the night, like he was writing when he probably shouldn't have been writing and listening, so. - Is that something he'll continue with? - I don't know. I think for him, like

he's a pretty sensitive soul, but he doesn't, I wouldn't say he doesn't show it, he just doesn't have, I would say he doesn't have the tools, or didn't know where to go with it. So again, that was a big part of where to start with that, is just give people a starting point of guiding you down on how to write, and how to think, and be not necessarily creative, but kind of like internal with your thoughts, and then external with your actions, and how to put it down on paper. So for even people like, you

know, Kat and your jazzers, like the more quieter, introverted, socially, I was gonna say secluded, but like just not necessarily extroverted is probably a better way of putting it. Just to give them a starting point of this is where you can start, and this is how you might want to explore yourself, I guess. - Who surprised you over there? Like, shout out to who sort of shared, and was very vulnerable, and opened up that not necessarily you didn't think they would, but probably is more of a quieter person. - I mean, it's hard to kind of pinpoint 'cause everyone did.

- Pinpoint line. Yeah, nice. - And even if, so the whole line, there was no, they didn't have to share. It wasn't you. I'm gonna point at you. - Yeah, they'll get a gun to their head. - No, exactly. So it was none of that that happened, and a lot of the sharing, what people think we're sharing sometimes is like being able to say it publicly. Well, sometimes sharing is just sharing with people in your inner circle. So, you know, some people, like Geordie Cody, for example, like he's one that everyone, obviously for us who know his story, and we've spent a lot of time with Geordie now.

Obviously I live with Geordie, but you, for an example, like you probably know Geordie's story better than what you used to. - Yeah. - Those other people in the room didn't. So like him being able to talk about where he's come from and what he's challenged, like opened up a lot of other people I think as well. And, you know, he's really comfortable talking about that stuff. But like you go down the other end of the table and you've got some of the AFL girls and Jazz and Kat who wouldn't necessarily share publicly, but would share within their group.

So I think that was a pretty big thing is just like vulnerability is not just, you know, public. It can be just in your inner circle as well. You know, even between you and I, like you don't know everything about me and I don't know everything about you. So being able to open up and talk about things you don't normally talk about can be quite confronting for people who aren't comfortable or used to doing it to start with. So that was probably the biggest takeaways. You know, everyone shared their stories and extents that didn't have

to be publicly, which was, you know, from a comfortability point of view and being inclusive, like that's kind of the whole reason why that was set up. - Well, hopefully by the end of this, I'll know a bit more about you. We're going to go deep. - I told you, I'm an open book. - Nothing off limits? - Never. You want to hit, you want to learn it. Listen, I'm happy to tell you. - Oh, we'll get there. We'll get there. You did talk about the AFLW girls before we go there. How did that season go?

You were close. - Yeah, we missed out on finals by 4%. So we may or may not have dropped a game we shouldn't drop. So we definitely want some games we shouldn't, or we weren't picked to win. You know, internally, obviously quietly confident around like your performance and your growth as a group, but we dropped a game we shouldn't have dropped and that kind of bit us in the ass. - That was the end of you. - Yeah, and I guess over a 10 round season, you lose one of those games that puts you back a little bit.

So yeah, I think we sat by 4%. So we were watching that at the club, which was a kind of really strange day. - Was it a bittersweet end to the day? - No, it was exhausting. - Yeah. - It was even like after the game that we were watching that was gonna determine whether we made finals or not. Even after that, I was just cooked. There was some expletives at the TVs. There was umpire calls, this and that, and like nothing aggressive or hostile, but like just the like raw emotion of it. Like it was out of our control to an extent.

We played the one o'clock, a one 10 game. The three 10 game could have changed where we finished. So it could have the five 10 game, which was in WA. So like we were just kind of hanging on all day. - So was I, my morning the next morning depended on that. - Exactly, so that was, it was a long day, but also to an extent, a little bit out of control, out of our control. But yeah, we needed, in the end we needed Fremantle to beat Sydney over there. And they lost by four goals, I think so.

- Yeah, yeah. I think Sydney got away with them in the end. - Yeah, yeah. - It was tight, three quarter time. One of the questions from M Webster, which I'm gonna bring forward to now, is like sort of what do you enjoy most about working at an elite sporting club? And I've sort of reworded that a little bit, but yeah. - Yeah. Fundamentally, there's not too much different. I guess connecting with athletes still, I guess tickles my sporting, elite sport enjoyment. It's being exposed to athletes is really just the same as being exposed to another community.

The part that I enjoy about it is the problem solving and the having to think on your feet and adapt and just take it as it comes and off you go. It's very, very structured and very, very planned, which is, I love structure and planning, but also you have to be very adaptable. Like having the volatility of a really short season with a not exactly huge pre-season, things change really quickly. So from a professional standpoint, I enjoy that actually having to use my brain a little bit. Whereas sometimes if you're working, like you said, gen pop, for example, like the only thing, there's not really much that changes week to week, except from like a mental load.

Like the physical is obviously one thing, but people who work in gen pop or who people are gen pop who work, you know, day stress and things like that is, you know, normal and part of how you have to adapt your approach to working here, for example. Whereas there you've got to take in a lot of different things. A lot of girls are still working. Elite sport is pretty demanding. You've got media, you've got social this, you've got marketing, wants you to do this. Like there's a lot of pressures and a lot of different things that go into it.

So just trying to, I guess, balance out that is something that I enjoy. - What percentage of girls now are doing that for a full-time job? - Good question. I reckon it's definitely from when I started, like this was my fifth year at Saints. When I started, like none of them. Now, like generally speaking, I would say like 50, 50, like half work full-time still in half. It's probably actually, it's probably more 64. We got a pretty young group. So it's really a little bit different in the way that we've got a couple at the older end or a few at the older end, not much in the middle.

And then a lot down the younger end. So like our average age is like 23, 24 now. So a lot of girls are still studying, but they might be studying part-time. A lot of girls are working, but they might be working part-time so that we don't necessarily have too many like full-time work, full-time athlete anymore, which is obviously a huge positive. But then there's some other girls who have like not working and they just, they play footy. - Yeah, I couldn't tell you a specific number. If you gave me a list I could probably tell you, but I haven't thought about it.

- And two of the girls who are also two of our girls are getting married shortly. - Yeah. - Day before you go away, is it? - They've had to shift that back a little bit, but they, I don't know if they've got a date in mind yet, but a little bit, a bit of stuff happened for those guys from like a life point of view, like beaches that unfortunately passed away. So they shifted that back. But yeah, I'm excited for when they get married. - Obviously you don't have to fly hungover anymore. - No, no, that was the original plan.

Yeah, but I don't have to do that anymore. - Yeah, lucky man. - Yeah, 14 hour flight to LA on a hungover flight, no thanks. - What's that? - 14 hour flight to LA, hungover, no thanks. - That sucks ass. - Yeah, don't have to do that no bother. - The 14 hours isn't too bad. Let's do it. - I sleep on planes, so it's okay. - Yeah, you're better than me. - I sleep pretty well. - So let's get to it. So the last sort of 12, 14 months, you sort of touched on it before, you've been on a bit of a journey of growth.

- Yep. - What was a bit of a catalyst to kickstart that? - Like, life-wise, obviously separating with a long-term partner of nine years, like that kickstarted that to an extent, 'cause when something like that happens or something big in your life happens, you start to like reevaluate where you're at and what you want. So that was obviously a big kickstarter. I think for me it was like, I didn't necessarily stop enjoying training, I just didn't enjoy not running and having some knee and foot and things that I didn't really, I wouldn't say I didn't do anything about, but I just kind of led by the wayside.

- Just didn't care. - Yeah, and it was more the fact that I probably forgot how much I enjoyed running for fun. That's probably the only reason. I come from track and field and running for performance and trying to get faster. Now I couldn't give a shit what my pace is, I don't care times, I don't care about heart rates, I still track it all, 'cause that's the sports arts in me and it helps dictate where my training goes, but if I have a day where I run at like 6.30, it's like, I don't care, I just like to go for a little trot.

- Makes you feel good. - Exactly, so that's probably the one thing that was a big catalyst for that, was going back to enjoying running for fun rather than running because I had to, or I had to train because I had to. But that was probably the main part, really, to be fair. And a lot of it is just consistency, it's just doing it over a long period of time and getting in a groove. - What were some of the biggest challenges along the way? Because even recently you've been in a moon, but what were some of the speed bumps along that journey?

- I mean, as silly as it sounds, not too many, to be honest. I think we only get in our own way, so if you can get out of your own way, then that's a pretty good step to going towards where you want to. So I'm a pretty strong-willed mindset guy. Like if I say I'm gonna do something and I actually deep dive it, I'll do it. I have days where I don't wanna train, but then I'll end up doing two sessions a day. It's just overcoming your own, not guilt or want to do it, it's just I said I'm gonna do it, so I gotta go do it.

I'm a pretty big advocate for just getting shit done, taking the emotion out of the response and just getting it done. So that's probably helped me over a long time to do that. - You said people get in their way. What does that mean? - A lot of the time the only barriers that are in our way of striving towards something are the ones that we create. Yeah, it's the ones that we create, whether that's mentally, whether that's I got a bit of a sore calf today, or okay, you might, but what can you do about that, or what can you do instead of that, rather than just not do it full stop.

So for the most part, like as with everyone, like energy, work, I could be doing this instead, like all those barriers, you just take them off the table. And for me, it was being more selfish with my time. I was saying this this morning, speaking of Anne Webster, I know she'll listen, so I'll call her out here. She was obviously meant to be leaving in two and a half weeks and she's like, "Oh, you can't leave. "I don't want you to go." Like, blah, blah, blah. And I spent so much time giving energy to other people.

I need some energy for myself now. - Well earned. - That's definitely a mind shift that I've definitely approached over the last two years, to be honest. - Being more selfish. - Yeah, and it's not necessarily dedicating less energy to those other people. It's literally just being more selfish with my time. I'll go home now and I won't do any work after 10 p.m. I will be doing work till 2 a.m., 3 a.m. - So no more late night programming. - No more late night. Last night, I haven't done all my programs for this week. You asked me that three years ago, I would have a heart attack that I hadn't done that.

But now it's just microing my days or my workload into days. So I'll do the rest of my program this afternoon or majority of it. And I need to adapt or follow up with tomorrow's problem. So just being more selfish with where I put my time and energy is probably a big part of that. - Consistency was a big thing for you to help keep you on the track. Were there any tools you used to help you stay consistent? Or if not, advice for people that may be struggling with their consistency? - Find someone who's a bit hard-headed.

'Cause as I said for me, I don't rely. I enjoy training with other people and spending time around that from a running point of view or whatever it is. But for me, being a little bit hard-headed, my thing is just self-talk and get out of your own way. - Just do it. - Yeah, exactly, just do it. So if you're someone who doesn't necessarily think that, or you find that quite challenging to stay motivated or disciplined or whatever name you wanna put on it, find someone who's the opposite of that and then make them carry on for the ride 'cause it makes it easier.

Doing it together is way easier than trying to do it alone. - Be stubborn or find someone that is stubborn. - Yeah, I'm pretty stubborn. I'm adaptable but I'm pretty stubborn. Mum can attest to that one. But yeah, I think that's the biggest thing is just finding a way, find a way, get it done. - Obstacle is the way? - Yep, adapt, overcome. - You've been doing reading too. You were never a big reader when I first started here. - Still not. - It didn't stick, that's one that didn't stick? - Nah, so I did the 75 hard and that was the hardest part by far was the reading.

I just, I don't enjoy reading. I find it tedious and all I wanna do is nap. I'm happy to listen and watch and be like stimulated visually or auditory but me just internal reading myself. I also find it pretty hard or challenging to read anyway, like actually read. I definitely to an extent need some sort of like eye motivation glasses but when I look at a page, this is a little bit of probably dad's dyslexia a little bit but like I struggle with like focus on words. So like reading is exhausting for me. So when I read it, I gotta go back and read it three times to actually take it in.

So that's another part of why I just don't like it. - Is that your mind wandering or? - No, it's when I look at a page, like I find it really challenging to look at and this is like physical page. Laptop's a bit different. I find typing and doing a lot of work on my laptop actually fine and I don't find it fatiguing but when I like open a book, like I've really struggled to focus on the page. - We're talking like it's blurry or? - Yeah, I just see nothing. I wouldn't say it's blurry. It's more just like I know that there's words on the page but I can't really decipher unless I fully like look at it.

So that goes a big way and it always has gone a really big way into me not enjoying reading. I've had that since I was in primary school. - I guess that's just a case of like what works for some people may not work for others like for definitely not me but for someone like Lachie, like reading great way to unwind and fill his cup for you just agitates the shit out of you. - Yeah, it does. It makes me annoyed. - Yeah. - 'Cause it's like, oh, I just read that. I don't know what I just read.

- What things did stick out of that 75 hard or over your journey of growth the last year and a half? - I think probably more of a mindset, just get it done. Like, you know, the 75, like doing two workouts a day, like at the start, I wouldn't say it was challenging 'cause you're always like pretty hyped up for it but like for now, like some days I do like three or four workouts but then I'm not saying you go and do like, you know, a 45 minute smash yourself. - Yeah. - I'll do

an upper body program and then I'll do a bit of core and then I'll go for a walk and then I'll do a bit of a sweaty session, like, and a lot of that comes down to like food recovery and everything like that as well but I think it's more just like having the durability, all the mindset durability to just do it. - Yeah, were there challenges with recoverability when you were slamming two a day? - Nah, tipped into that pretty well. - Yeah, good. - I think a lot of it is just like, if you're gonna work hard, you gotta recover harder, so.

- Are you training for anything at the moment? Running event wise? - Well, I was. I got this stupid foot, so. - What actually happened? - I got a plantar plate there. Basically the plate or the tender that sits under my second toe and the plate that goes across that kind of just like tore a little bit of it. So that was round three of football, actually. - Are you talking when you filled in for Stone Cats or round three of Saints football? - Saints football round three, which would be probably three and a half, four months ago.

- Yeah. - But I wouldn't say I neglected it, it just didn't affect a lot of the things I did. And it just probably changed the way I ran a little bit, which gave me a little bit of tip post pain on the other side, but even like today, like I feel fine today, but yesterday I felt really sore. So it's just kind of like very sporadic. And I've got like hammer toes. My hammer, like toes curl over. So putting extra pressure on the ball of my foot under my second toe can be quite irritating.

But we're gonna get an x-ray this week and potentially have some, I know I have some R3D changes in my second toe or in my toes anyway, and that's common with people with hammer toes, but yeah, it's basically see what the damage is and get it broken and restrained and potentially. - How may someone develop hammer toes? - I was born with it. I don't know if it's genetic or not, but I've had it forever. - Did that affect you when you were playing sport growing up and actually chasing high performance? - It didn't, but I definitely remember having an appointment when I was about basically around my feet and toe.

It was like basically right now you can either put up with it and get on with it or you can have surgery and fix it. So that's probably the conversation. - So that get on with it piece has always been sort of a trope of your life. - Yeah, I'm an adapter. You just make it work. I don't stew on a lot of things. In fact, I don't stew at all. - Adapt or die? - Yeah, pretty much like if you can control it, do something about it. If you can't, move on like this. And I know that's a really annoying thing to say for people who struggle with that.

And I get that, but that's just how I tick. So I'm gonna keep ticking. - But in reality, that's just people looking for more excuses when they rebut that. - Exactly, but we all deal with certain things differently. Like even this morning on the gym floor, talking about like I booked my flight and I'm meant to leave in two and a half weeks. That's freaking some people out when I talk about it, which is probably fine. But for me, it's like I'm in control of when I book it. So I could book it tomorrow. I could rock up to the airport tomorrow and leave.

- Buy a ticket. - Exactly, so that's, I don't know. That's just how I tick, how my brain works. Can't help it, I'm not gonna change it. - I probably like to lie somewhere in the middle of myself. Getting better at it. - I'm in nice chaos. - Getting better. Fan questions. - Go on. - Some of these are gonna be a bit sporadic, but there's a lot of them. We'll start with laugh 'cause he spammed us. We talked about challenging moments before of the last sort of 12 to 18 months, but most challenging moment of your life.

- What do I think of challenge? - When have you really had to adapt? - I mean, it's hard to pinpoint a certain point. I think it's just the accumulation of a lot of different things. And I know it's a really fence-sitting answer, but as I said before, nothing is as good or as bad as we want it to be. It's how you, or what you do to deal with that that sets you apart on how you respond. So I think challenges exist every day. It is what it is. From a global phenomenon challenge point of view, realistically, my life's pretty good.

I haven't done too much, it's drastic. - COVID a big challenge for you at all? - Nah, I love stopping. Go to video games, watch a lot of movies. But yeah, I guess I know I sit in a really annoying spot when I ask those types of questions because realistically, living on the Peninsula at 26, pretty healthy, so. - Doesn't get much better. - It's not that bad compared to a bit of perspective on some of the rest of the other parts of the world at the moment. - I think I've got things pretty okay, so.

- You still gaming? Like you're a big gamer when I came across. - I wish. From like March until October, I basically do 88 weeks, so I don't fit in there. - Yeah. - But I'm fine with that. I know what I signed off for, I know what I do when I sign my contracts, so. - It's better. - It is what it is. - It's better this way. What's something we don't know about Mitchell Row? - Well, you probably don't know, I got into school on a music scholarship. Yeah, I thought they did. - Into school, like function high?

- Yeah. I got into a music scholarship. - For? Well, actually I'll guess. - What do you think? I'll give you three guesses and then I won't tell you. - I reckon it's gonna be a brass instrument, the trumpet. - That's bang on my friend, I'll give you that. Bang on. - Do you still play the trumpet? - No, so I originally started that in primary school because I had chronic asthma. So the doctor at the time basically prescribed me to learn a musical instrument because of the cyclic breathing and I don't have asthma, so. - So do you play the didgeridoo 'cause that's cyclical breathing?

- It'd take me a little bit to pick up even with the trumpet now. Like I haven't done it since year nine. I could probably work it out. I mean, I know I could work it out, but if you gave me a piece of sheet music now, I wouldn't be able to read it. - Yeah, yeah. - I could probably join some dots, but I wouldn't be able to fluently read it. - Do you reckon that's helped your breathing in like sort of running performance and is there a crossover there? - Yes, until I broke my nose a few times.

- Right, right. - Once I broke my nose a few times, like I got a deviated septum, so I can't actually breathe through one side of my face. That makes it a bit challenging, but up until then, yeah, absolutely. 'Cause it just gets you more efficient at using what you have. - Who busted your beak? - Well, you see when you're five foot six in high stature, you're typically at about shoulder or hip height. So a few people, three times in a month. - Footy? - Yeah. - Yeah. What motivates you? - What motivates me? I'm pretty internally motivated.

If I want it, I'll go chase it. - And what makes you want something? - Few things. Like I love nice new shiny things. Like I won't lie. Like I love shiny, that's why I love shoes. Yeah, I knew that was coming. I don't know. I just like things that give me enjoyment and happiness and whether that's tangible, whether that's valuable or not valuable to someone else, doesn't matter if I want it, I'll go get it. And if I can't get it right now, I'll do everything I can to get to it. - Building on that, what brings you joy and happiness?

- Lots of things bring me happiness, but I think happiness is a interesting topic in itself because what makes me happy doesn't make you happy. So from a fundamental foundational level of happiness, I think doing the things you enjoy doing obviously goes a long way to being happy. I think happiness is just being content in your current situation. That situation's gonna change, but right now, are you happy? Is probably the question that I'll always ask myself. And if I'm not, what can I do to fix that? Like I'm a process and adapt. I just can't help it, it just is what it is.

At the moment, I'm pretty content, pretty happy with what I'm doing. Obviously going away, like something to look forward to, but also don't need to go if I don't want to. So yeah, happiness is just doing the things you enjoy and being content and happy in your own little world. - Do people go wrong, just sort of trying to chase happiness all the time? - Depends on why you're chasing it. If you're chasing happiness, it's because something needs to change and you won't know what needs to change until you find the thing that needs to change.

And hindsight's 20/20. You're probably not gonna work it out until after the fact. - How do we find what needs to change? - Experiment, adventure. - Try shit? - Yeah, do shit, just do different things. You might like parasailing, I don't know. You might like wakeboarding. You might like lying down on the grass. If that makes you happy. I love lying down on the floor. - Yeah, I've noticed. - Yeah, I know, hard to lie on the floor, love it. Sign me up, I'll just be contently happy just laying there and hanging out. - Yeah, I was about to say like what are some things that you've maybe dipped the toe into that we don't know about?

Well, you've started yoga lately. - Yeah, I've started yoga. Yeah, I've started yoga. I've done a lot of yoga, yoga recently. I've done a lot of yin, which is like a little slow and hold and stretching. I enjoy it as just a different thing, really. It's an exit, it's a bit slower. Like naturally, I'm pretty slow and introverted and I'm a bit cruisier than some. Like even walking around, like I'm a pretty slow, cruisy walker. So I enjoy slowness. What other things have I dived? - I mean, it's really not, probably not too much you don't know, to be fair.

Like I'm pretty see-all, be-all kind of guy. - We'll have to get you on a tennis court one day. - I can swing a tennis racket. - Yeah. - I got some hand-eye, so. - Well, fix your foot. - Yeah. - We still need to get the kayaks out and-- - Yeah, kayaking, that was last summer's thing. - Have you still got 'em? - Yeah, I still got 'em, yep. Trying to think of things that I do that I don't know about. - If we get some sun before you go away. - Yeah, not too much stuff.

(laughing) - I was waiting for you to say that. - You're bringing an umbrella. - I was waiting for you to say that. I'm trying to think of things that I do that you don't know about, but I don't really think there's any. I don't know, I find enjoyment in little things, so I honestly probably don't even know that things bring me happiness, I just do them. - What other little things have been, like you're a coffee man? - You know what makes me really happy right now? - Yeah? - Dream of Cafe of Toasties. - I'm so happy about Benny Rosenberg coming to our community.

- Dream of Toasties. Dream of Toasties, that's what's making me happy right now. - Yeah. - I think I spent three, four different meetings there last week. That's what makes me happy at the moment. - I thought you were gonna say, "I think I spent three, four hundred dollars last week." - Wouldn't even know. - That's money well spent. - That's something I definitely actually do though. I struggle, I would say I struggle with money, but if I find enjoyment, like yesterday for example, we went out down in Serrano. I took the kids out shopping for the day.

And we went to the Conti for lunch, and I was like, "What do I want? "Not what can I afford?" And I'm more than happy to spend money on the things that I want right now. And having someone who, I was having this conversation actually last week with a couple of people around money and financials. I have savings to go on holidays. I don't have last savings, I don't hoard money. I like to spend and adventure and use my money to do things now. - That's what it's for. - Exactly, you don't take it to the grave.

I'm a doer, sign me up. Yesterday, steak, oysters, and a frothery. - Exactly, I'll go out for lunch and get two main meals. If I want a steak and the fucking nachos, I'll do it. 'Cause I want 'em. - I can pay my bills, feed myself, keep the dogs alive, everything like that. If they're ticked off and covered, whatever else I do with my money, I would rather spend it and enjoy it than hoard it and keep it for a rainy day. - Yeah, I think there's being irresponsible in a way where you spent $100 on the punt and you don't have enough to feed yourself or pay rent, and then there's doing things like that.

- Yeah, I would say I don't do dumb shit with my money, but I like to enjoy it. I work hard for my money, so I'm gonna actually enjoy it. - So you're back having the odd, quiet beer after the 75 hard? - Yeah, I'm not a big drinker anyway, to be fair. I don't drink at home at all, our fridge at the back. So Geordie obviously doesn't drink. Seb is an athlete, he plays VFL. Doesn't drink that much either. I don't drink at home. So our back fridge, normally if someone comes over and brings stuff, it just goes back in the back fridge.

There's stuffing that has been there, see if we've moved in. We just, I don't know, just drinking doesn't make up a part of my home life. Socially, more than happy to have a beer with dinner, even a lunch beer on a Friday. Fine, happy with that. Be able to spend a lot of time drinking. I just don't see the value in it. - More money to spend on shoes. - Big value guy. If it's adding value, sign me up. If it's not adding value, don't need it. - Yeah, I'm starting to realize I just much prefer not feeling like shit.

- Yeah, that too. I enjoy my mornings now. - Yeah. - And I don't think I'd ever say that in my life, but I like my mornings as a night owl. - What? Sorry, I fucked this one up. What sport impresses you most based on athletic ability? - I will argue this to the end of the earth and everyone that I run into in America that asks me this question is gonna hate me. AFL is probably the hardest sport in the world. Physiologically. It's 360, it's aerobic, it's anaerobic. It's decision making, it's processing, it's open field.

It's not predictable. As a sport, it's the most challenging sport that I think. - I would agree with you for a second place, AFL. What about mixed martial arts? - Yeah, true, but is there a lot of hand-eye ball involved? You're missing a whole element. - I think there's a skill component to it. - Yeah. - That I know nothing about. - Me either. I would argue that yeah, absolutely there is. And you know, there's a bit of body control. You get that in footy as well. - Yep. - Is it on the same level? Absolutely not.

But aerobic, yeah, anaerobic, yep. - I suppose no sprinting. - Yep, exactly. So yeah, as a overall sport, I still think, and I'll argue this forever, that AFL is one of the hardest sports in the world. - Non-contact. - Is it a non-contact sport? - Yep. (silence) - Trying to not give a shitty answer here. First thing that came to my head was darts. (laughs) - I mean, where's the physiology? Where's the sprinting? Where's the-- - I'm only gonna be surfing. - Yeah? - I'm gonna be surfing, 'cause it's unpredictable. You have to adapt based on your wave right now, 'cause no wave is ever the same.

- Yep. - That's all I got for you. - Nah, I like it. - Body control, aerobic, no running involved, obviously. Will not give my opinion, 'cause this is the Mitch podcast. - He can give you opinion. Hey Tyler, what's your opinion? I asked. - Uh, I'm gonna not say tennis one, 'cause I'm biased, and two, it probably realistically isn't. Ironman? - Yeah. - It's as physical as shit. That's a full-time job training for that. - Yeah, I think there's levels as well. I don't know, I don't have a good answer. You could argue anything. - Yeah, we could sit here for another hour.

- We're not gonna be any human, we're all different. - I don't think you'll have an answer for this one. This is Laff's final one, controversial fitness industry opinions. - I knew he asked this, this is the one I saw yesterday. (sighs) - I wish it, yeah. - Nah, nah, there's nothing. I don't think there's anything that shits me, like I'm well and truly past that point of coaching. Nothing annoys me. I would say, nothing annoys me. There's things that annoy me, I won't lie. I would say the thing, the training that you do is less important than the people you do it with.

That's my opinion. - Correct opinion. - That's my controversial opinion. No one gives a shit about what's in your program, because when you do it with people you wanna hang out with, doesn't matter. - It's all that matters. - Training's about enjoyment. And if you're not training for a specific niche, have to do this reason. - Don't matter what you do. When are you getting your first tattoo? Says M Harper. - When she gives me it. I told her, she's got free canvas. - What are you getting? - I don't know. See, this is the thing.

So, as the only one in my direct family, mum, dad, sister, that doesn't have a tattoo. Oh, I have no adverse. My thing used to be, you know, pinstripe a Ferrari, but I think that boat's, that ship is sailed. I have no reason why I don't have one. I also don't have a reason why I do have one. I don't know what I want. I don't have a thing that I want. - Don't care. - Don't care whatsoever. If it's cool, stick it on me, like I don't, that's-- - You're not faced by a lot. - Nah, I'm not.

I try not to be, I don't know. Life's stressful enough, why make it worse? But yeah, I told Emma, I said, "Free canvas, do you like?" I'll get a sloth for Brooke and Rhys and Ry. That'll, that was gonna happen last year, and then that filtered out, but it's just, that'll happen all this year. But yeah, I'm phased, and I'll, anything, I'll probably just get stickered with a bunch of random stuff, to be honest. That's probably something. - Hey, I look forward to it. I never thought I'd see a stickered Mitch. - Nah, that'll be something I do.

I don't know if I'll do, I'll probably just do upper body to start with. - Good. - Don't know if I'll do legs. - That excites me. - Yeah. - I used to be very much the same, I don't put bumper stickers on a Ferrari, like we used to be very much against, and I'll probably get stickered when I've got the money one day. - My thing is, I don't know what I want. - Yeah. - And I don't want anything. So yeah, I don't know, I'm sure I'll get a sneaker or something tattooed on me.

I'm sure I'll get a martini glass, I'm sure I'll get a coffee, like, whatever. - Might put something on you next Friday, at the staff Christmas party. - Yeah, I told Emma to come down to that. She can tattoo us all. - Yes. - But if I get a V, you have permission to fire me by yourself. - That's not happening? - No, I will not get a V tattooed on me. - Right, right. - No chance. - Hustle? - Nah, nah, no brands. - Fair enough. - That's volatile. - Oh, it's like getting partner's name on you.

- Exactly, volatile. - Don't know what someone's gonna do. - That's a bad decision. - Yeah. Favorite Wallace? I won't tell you who asked. - Can I guess who did ask her? - Yep. - I know it's not Lachlan. I'm gonna go, I reckon Beck. - Yep, bang on. - My favorite Wallace is Rob Dogg. - Wallace? - Wallace. Wallace is Rob Dogg. I don't see Rob enough, and when I do see Rob, it's my most enjoyable time. - He's a good man. - He is. I mean, I love them all, and I'm not gonna say equally, 'cause we're all not parents.

Well, we're not parents, should I say. Parents have their favorite child. I'm happy to be my family's favorite child. That's fine, we don't have to argue that. But Rob Dogg, favorite. - Good, and that's something I'm big on too, like parents, teachers, coaches, everyone's got their favorite, everyone's got their favorite. - We all have favorites. - I won't tell you who asked this, it's just why are you a little bitch? And you can guess, and then answer the question. - Oh, I don't know who would say that. There's so many people that could say that. - They're a member.

- They're a member. Don't know, tell me. - And Webster. - Oh, get out of here. I said to her today, I'm happy to be her constant in her life, but I might take that back now. - Fuck her. - Yep, that's aggressive, but yeah, she will. I don't know. I don't even know how to answer that question. - We'll move on, we'll brush over it. There's a couple that she asked that we've already touched on, but hey, this one intrigues me a lot. What is your ideal sandwich? - That's a great question. - So we're talking type of bread.

- That's a great question. - Type of sauce. - That's a great question. - Fillings. - Oh, damn. Depends on, okay, I'm not gonna say depends on that. I love a brekkie bacon, egg and cheese bagel. That's my go-to. - Brilliant. - Sesame, not anything else, just sesame bagel. Yeah, just bacon, egg and cheese. Maybe a little bit of like burger saucey something in there, but some, yeah, I could eat that all day every day. - Do you want to shout out your bagel joint that you love, New Saints? - Oh, there's a few. There's Tuck Shot New Saints.

They do the best hash brown you'll ever have. - Okay. - By an absolute country mile. That's like a walking distance, like 600, 700 metres from Saints. - Right. - But yeah, I've just got Google lists upon Google lists on my phone of just places to try. Food, I love, food adventuring is my love language. You know what? Actually, I'm gonna come back to your happiness question. Food adventuring with people is my, that what makes me happy. By country mile, that is, that's it. - Local Mornington Peninsula eateries. And I know there's infinite amounts, but like give us like a, give us a short list.

- Right now, Dreamers at the top of my list. - Yep. - Their toasties are fire. They're immaculate. - Yeah, good. - I like, oh, there's so many options. This is my, this is my issue. I just love hanging out with people and eating good food. I guess, I guess it comes back to consistency. I don't know. I love duck pizza, like. - Good. - They're not exactly exclusive. They're not, you know, unknown. Yeah, they're probably two. They're easy go-tos, like they make out regularly in my little routine. - I'm jumping around a bit here, but are you still smoking meats?

- It took me a while to get over what you just said. Smoking, I was like, I don't ever start. No, I haven't done anything this year. My smoke is actually still at mom and dad's house from last Christmas. So that's, that's how much I've done with that. I've tried to like, tried to make some jerky and stuff like that, which didn't go that well. But no, I haven't. - Unless those AD hour weeks. - I still haven't to be fair. The jerky was a disaster. It didn't end well. - Why, have I burnt it or can you burn it?

- No, I'm pretty sure I did burn it to an extent. Like they're like marinade, I think cooked instead of like dried, but I don't really trust my oven at home. So I'm not going to try that again. It's like an old school oven. So trying to think of these food joints. I don't know. I really like, what's another one. I really enjoy, there's actually that little like Asian noodle place down here at Benton's, secret discovery. - The new one? - No, it's next to Woolies. - Yeah. - Oh, it's not, okay. It's in a new location.

Yeah. - Okay. - Yeah. But yeah, not much down here. I like to go up city way to be fair. - Yeah, good. - I don't probably explore down here as much as I should, living down here. I think it's one of those things that you've only realized how good it is until you're not here. But yeah, I think I like venturing towards the city. Like obviously there's so many different options, but a lot of my network is actually up there. So it's a good excuse to go up there and find some food. - Well, I'm keen to hear about these U.S.

eateries once you get back. - Yeah, I'm scared this time. 'Cause last time I went, I definitely tried like the fast foodie type American food. Whereas this time, like I reckon I'm in danger. I think I'm gonna go food hunting. - Like money danger or? - No, not money danger, just like a lot. - Yeah, okay. - Just off the beaten track. Like it's my favorite part about going to new cities is like, yeah, the big stuff and all the attractions are great. You know, the touristy stuff is fantastic, but I like the little side streets, like little bars, little eateries, like that's, I love doing that.

- Just exploring. - Yeah, I love exploring. I love wandering. I can't help it. - Good. - I love wandering without a purpose. Like just stumbling across stuff. For an example, like I'm not someone who'll go somewhere and look at the menu before I go there. I will never do that. I just, I feel like whatever I feel like. So that's, I'm gonna have a lot of fun doing that in America. That's for sure. - I like it. When are the dogs coming back? - Maybe tomorrow, I reckon. What's Tuesday? Yeah, maybe tomorrow. I was thinking about tomorrow actually.

I don't know, it's a lot of effort to lug them around at 5.30 in the morning when I have to leave, so. - Yeah, right. - Depends on how early I wake up. It depends if I, to be fair, it depends on if they want to come. Sometimes they'll look at me like, nah, not today. - CBF. - Yeah, yeah, but also they haven't been here for ages because of like, I'll go from here to somewhere else to somewhere else, like jumpers for me to go home and then just, we've been incubating, so. - Yeah. Do you see them much anymore?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. To be fair, I reckon Bailey likes Geordie more than me. She'll hang out at Geordie Stairs. Boston's still a Velcro dog, like he doesn't leave me go, but the reason, and this is why I probably love my dogs, is like they don't need, they need attention and loving, but they don't need an hour walk a day kind of thing. They're pretty content in their own little world and they're pretty cruisy, to be fair, which is probably a little reflection on me, so. - Other than when they take themselves out around Clyde North.

- Yeah, that did happen. Went for an adventure. But then they came back and sat in the front yard, so. - Yeah. - They are, they're easy dogs. - And Boston was a COVID dog, yeah, so that's why he's a little bit more attached. - Yeah, he's definitely attached because of that. But yeah, he's always just literally by my hip, which is great, but also not so good sometimes when he's 66 kilos or something, so. - And still scared of me. - He's scared of everything. That's not a reflection of you, but he's terrified of everything.

I mean, I chased him around when he was a little baby. - That didn't, probably, but, yes, no, he's scared of lots of things. - Frithi, what's piqued your interest lately? - Frithi? What he's doing with his life, I don't see it anymore. - So he's not involved in, say, any capacity anymore? - Nah, he's at Vic Poll now training their recruits. - Right. - What's piqued my interest? Good question. - I've been interested in, from a professional setting, diving into other people's systems. And what I mean by that is, the structure or the thought process behind why someone sets up the way that they do.

Because I think for me, as coaches and as practitioners, we're the best stealers in the world. We've never had an original idea, even though if we think we have. It's unlikely that you'll have an original idea. So trying to borrow or steal, basically, what someone else is doing and take part of that and make it in your own little thing, that's probably something that's interested me so far. - Whose work have you been looking at or who's someone that you've really enjoyed? - There's a guy who's the physical prep coach for the New Orleans Pelicans. His name is Daniel Bove, Bove, B-O-P-E, something like that.

He's worked in NBA for a very long time. And the way that he systemizes his training based on multiple exposures and multiple training adaptations and what that looks like in a really clear and easy way to look at it. It's something that I've been interested in. I've always upped an eye about doing some golf certification. I don't think that's, it's not necessary 'cause I don't wanna work in golf. It's more that I love golf and understanding golf. And being down here, obviously on the Peninsula, we're very lucky with the amount of courses and exposure that golf gets down here.

So something to do with like TPI and their certifications maybe, I don't know. It's kind of that's, I'm in a weird dynamic of that stuff. - So are we talking golf S and C or more golf like? - No, golf S and C, no, golf S and C. TPI do a certification on basically physical prep for golf. - Yep, back to our man Bove. So he's sort of, his thing's just really just GPP and just trying to build. - Nah, it's highly specific. It includes some basketball stuff in there. It's actually some SVP training, but that's more just the way that he structures it, I think is probably what I enjoy.

It's okay, how can I structure what he's structuring his system in a way that my system works, I think so. I don't know, I'm in a weird spot with some PD and stuff at the moment. There's nothing I'm striving to jump towards to learn from. I think it's more just collating and systemizing and making it clear and easy for someone else to pick it up if they chose to and they could take it off and do what they want with it. - So if some of the guys here started to see some sort of changes in their programs, have you sort of tinkered and trialed a little bit of stuff?

- I think I always tinker and try. I think that's, like I'm always changing stuff and not saying I'm changing things every day, like, you know, across a program. I think more it's just, especially for some of the people now who, you know, you catch your chains, like they've trained for a pretty long time, pretty consistently, just getting creative and still getting them to enjoy training, so. - Yeah. - A lot of their training becomes a bit entertainment-based, but it's still challenging and hard and, you know, focused on what they actually want to achieve. It's just a little bit off the beaten track again, so get a bit creative around what they get.

Like Kat's still doing stuff that she's never done before, so she's trained for five years, so. - Nice. - Still trying to just get different things and, you know, if I see something, trial it. - Keep shit exciting. - Pretty much just use them as guinea pigs to be honest. - Nice. - It's fun. It's fun for me at least. - What's your favorite choccy milk? - Actually, you know what? You know what has interested me at the moment? - Go on. - Like body weight finishes. - Yeah. - Yep, body weight. - Example. - Like pick four exercises, five exercises, body weight.

60 seconds on, 10 seconds, 15 seconds off. I don't know, I just really, I've found enjoyment in doing them, so. That's just something that I've been interested in recently, which is a little bit backwards. - I think our man Josh Lorenz has been copping a few of those ones, which he loves. - They're just low impact. They're low impact. - Yep. - You know, as we know, like you change your position where you go from standing to lying to kneeling to an exercise that's holding tension to creating force, like just trying to change different variables. They're pretty hard, like realistically.

- And I suppose there's a huge aerobic development component to that as well, which, you know, just stock standard aerobic training, like sitting on the bike for 20 minutes is boring as fuck. - Yeah, and it's low impact, so. - Yeah. You can sprinkle some body weight shit in there. - Bike riding's hard. I went for an accidental 50K ride on a mountain bike, so I can relate to that. - I remember that. - That was a bit silly. - Pulled up or up? - Yeah, completely fine. - Cool. That was in the sun. - Fave Choccy Milk from Alex.

- Fave Choccy Milk. I like, honestly, it's probably the Rockaby chocolate ones. They're just, they hit different, I mean, obviously from a little nerd, like calorie point of view, like pretty gone calories, so that's probably one Fave Choccy Milk. - Yeah, it's clean, lactose-free if that's what you need. - You can't be a country bakery milkshake though. - Yeah. - That's a different ball game, but commercialized, like honestly, I think the Rockaby chocolates are pretty good. - Can't go wrong. - Nah, never been a huge big game guy or an oak guy, never have been, but yeah, I don't know.

- Good. - Probably the Rockaby. - Got our last one from our girl Bella Breen, Lulu Girl. - I'm scared for this one. - No, no, no, it's sensible. Why do people get anxiety around going to the gym? - Yeah, that's a good question, and I know where she's coming from that too. It's a fear of the unknown to an extent, and it's a fear of what our exposure leads us to think the gym is, and what I mean by that is, what we see is not necessarily what happens. From a social media point of

view, obviously there's so much content and accessibility to content now around people that do go to the gym, and for people who, potentially Bella's position of a little bit younger, not necessarily ever being involved in gym, but came up through a sporting background and enjoys being physically active, because it compliments everything else that they do, like seeing people with jacked muscles, like that's confronting to someone who's not necessarily extroverted or out there, or confident in their own ability to exercise. Sport and training are different, and your ability to merge those two is quite challenging. From

a mindset point of view is, I know that if I go to basketball training and I run up and down the court and do all this stuff, like I'm gonna get fitter and this and that, but if I come into a gym and I'm doing movements that I don't know that I think can potentially hurt me, but I don't wanna look like that, there's just so many things that go into going into training in gym, so I think the anxiety thing, it's easy to overcome, as I said before, like when you're doing it with people

that you like hanging out with, and I think from Bella's point of view, for Bella's context, she trained three, four times last week, that's the most she's trained in gym for five or six years, and a lot of that, I think, comes down to mindset around, I'm okay doing this and I'm gonna challenge myself and adventure and do things that I don't usually currently do, but also, I trained with her on Wednesday, Belle tiered training with her as well, Will came in, so it's comfortable, 'cause there's now people you're training with as well, so connection and community go a long way into helping nullify the anxiety of training or honestly, really doing anything.

- Find a community, like-minded people, that are achieving the same thing that you wanna do. - Put that on a T-shirt. - Bang. - Put that under a business slogan. - Last couple minutes, what's going on the last two, three weeks before you shoot off? - That is a fantastic question, because I haven't thought past Saturday, so that's this week's midge bubble. Not really, not much will change, to be honest. There's not really much I need to organize before I leave, like, there's things I could organize, like, you know, I could try and find someone to live in my house for three months, could do that.

Don't really have to do much for the dogs, 'cause Geordie's gonna look after them for the most part. - Good of him. - Yeah, he wanted to do it. I definitely didn't force him to do it, but he wants to hang out with the dogs, which is great, but if they get annoying, mom and dad's around the corner, so you gotta drop 'em off there. House, car, like, don't have to do much for the car, you can just sit in the driveway, I'm sure I'll take my mom and dad's, and they'll drive it like they did last time.

Greg's got some Canadian students coming over that I might hire my car to them, like, ifs, buts, and maybes. Meetings-wise, works-wise, planning, it's all pretty calm now, so I got a lot of room for activity, so just hanging out with people I don't usually hang out with or don't usually get to see is probably a big part. And I can't even say a lot of training, 'cause I don't really just train while I'm here, so when I can't run, not much I can do. - Right, I love the content, attitude, and just very adaptable mindset you've got.

- Yeah, like, everything goes in my calendar, but it's in there for a reason, like, I'm not gonna shut down shop and, like, you know, just kinda spend some, like, time in, and, like, not spend my money and save before, like, if I wanna go out for dinner with some friends, I'm gonna go out, like, I'd rather do that and enjoy here, and, you know, have some tuna and rice on my way, like, that doesn't faze me, so. Yeah, I think a lot of it, we're just trying to plan out and increase accessibility opportunities over

there, and just start reaching out to, if I know I'm gonna be in the city for a few days or weeks, like, you know, what's in that city or who's in that city, and who can I try and connect with, so a large part of the reason that I'll go on this trip is connect with people I don't usually connect with, so. - Brilliant. - That's why I'm comfortable going by myself, like, I don't need to go with someone. - Not necessarily gonna be solo. - No, exactly, and, you know, if you wanna, if I

wanna go find a gym somewhere, you know, Instagram's one awful thing nowadays, and so is an email, so my whole thing for the next kinda two weeks or three weeks from, like, that, from my trip point of view, would be just trying to reach out and, you know, find people I wanna hang out with. A lot of people, you know, say yes to a free lunch. Hey, I'm in town for a week, can I buy you lunch? Who's gonna say no to a free lunch, so. That'll be a large part of probably what I do

now, is just work out days and times, and who's where and when, and, you know, honestly what the sporting schedule is, and who's in town, and who can I go hang out with. - Yeah, what sport do you hope to go and see? - I actually haven't seen a basketball game since I was, like, 12, I missed basketball last time, so I saw it when I was younger, for my mum's 40th? It must've been 40th. So I didn't see basketball, so I was trying to get that, but a lot of the basketball will be trying to get myself into basketball teams rather than to basketball games, so.

A lot of the Milwaukee Bucks stuff for Australia. One of my old uni teachers works at the Brooklyn Nets, and also works with the Boomers. The 76ers, I think their jam of basketball is Australian, don't quote me on that, but there's some sort of connection there, so a lot of the time when you're in SNC and you go over to American sport, like, they know where you've come from, and a lot of the time Australian's are pretty approachable, so if it works in with their schedule, and obviously it's chaos in basketball schedule, with, you know,

games back to back, and going to different cities, so it'll be just trying to manage stakeholders, I guess, is probably a way of putting it. But like, you know, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, MLS soccer, one of my guys I know works in Houston, at the Dynamo, so trying to hang out with him a little bit. Yeah. - Gonna see your gal, Indy? - Yeah, that's on my list as well, yes. Gonna get down to Kentucky, hang out with her, might go see Aiden, or he can come see me, 'cause it's minus 40 where he lives in winter, so I try and avoid that middle part of America, where nothing much is happening.

- Smart man. - Try and meet him somewhere, I don't know what he's doing for Christmas, but, you know, might try and, you know, Indy, I don't know, I'm pretty sure she's not coming back, so, yeah. - Love it. - If you ask me if we had this podcast again in two weeks, I could probably give you more answers, but ifs, buts, and maybes, and the world is my oyster, and opportunities are there if I wanna go get 'em. - Great attitude, love it. - That's it, my man. - Love it, thank you very much. - Pleasure, thanks for having me.