Full Auto Friday - With Leah Stumpf

Summary

Episode Summary: Full Auto Friday with Leah Stumpf

Cleared Hot, hosted by Andy Stumpf, ventures into an engaging Q&A session with his wife, Leah Stumpf. Released on March 14, 2025, this episode delves deep into Leah's journey in the martial arts world, her experiences as a stepmom, adventurous pursuits, and personal anecdotes that highlight the couple's dynamic partnership.

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1. Welcoming Leah and the Q&A Format

The episode kicks off with Andy expressing his excitement about hosting a Q&A session with Leah, who he affectionately refers to as his "favorite person on the face of the planet Earth." Andy credits Michael for selecting over 200 insightful questions that blend topics like Jiu Jitsu, life, and relationships, ensuring a comprehensive and unbiased conversation.

Notable Quote:

Andy (04:00): "We're going to do Q and A as advertised and promised. I got to sit down today and do some Q and A with my favorite person on the face of planet Earth."

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2. Navigating the Martial Arts World as a Woman

Leah shares her early experiences in Jiu Jitsu, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of being a female practitioner in a predominantly male environment. She recounts her initial days at a rec center in Alaska, where she was the sole woman, and her time at Travis's Gym and Straight Blast Gym in Portland. Leah emphasizes the importance of supportive coaches and the gradual increase in female participation over the years.

Key Points:

• Early lack of female members in Jiu Jitsu gyms.
• Supportive coaching from Travis's Gym and Matt Thornton in Portland.
• Leah's initial matches against female opponents and the learning curve involved.
• The slow but steady rise in women's divisions and black belt achievements.

Notable Quote:

Leah (08:18): "It's been a slow increase, but in a good way. Every year I compete, I see more women."

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3. Encouraging Female Participation in Jiu Jitsu

Leah discusses effective strategies gyms can employ to boost female membership. She advocates for dedicated ladies' classes, beginner-friendly environments, and fostering a community where women feel safe and encouraged to participate. Leah believes that creating a critical mass of around ten women can lead to organic growth and greater inclusivity.

Key Points:

• Importance of ladies' classes and beginner sessions.
• Creating a supportive and non-intimidating environment.
• Role of female coaches and mentors in attracting more women.
• Observing the expansion of weight classes and age groups in competitions.

Notable Quote:

Leah (12:34): "Having a ladies class goes a really long way. The more women you get on the mat, I think the critical mass is about 10, and then it'll kind of start growing itself."

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4. Balancing Age and Fitness in Jiu Jitsu Training

Addressing concerns about age and the possibility of starting Jiu Jitsu later in life, Leah reassures that there is no "too late" to begin. She shares stories of older students, including individuals in their 60s and 70s, who have successfully integrated Jiu Jitsu into their fitness routines. Emphasis is placed on managing expectations, preventing injuries, and adjusting training intensity based on individual capabilities.

Key Points:

• No age is too late to start Jiu Jitsu.
• Importance of managing expectations and training intensity.
• Stories of older practitioners achieving black belts and maintaining fitness.
• Comparisons to other physical activities like snowboarding in terms of adaptability.

Notable Quote:

Leah (14:03): "There's just a little bit slower pace, but it depends on the person. If you've been active and you're still moving pretty well, I think it's very possible."

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5. Personal Anecdotes: Dog Dynamics and Family Life

The conversation takes a lighter turn as Andy and Leah discuss their dog, Wean, highlighting his playful antics and loyalty. They share amusing stories about his behavior during helicopter rides and interactions with family members, showcasing the blend of humor and affection in their household.

Key Points:

• Wean's selective affection and protective instincts.
• Challenges with Wean's anxiety in crowded or noisy environments.
• Strategies employed to manage Wean's behavior, such as limiting his access to certain areas.

Notable Quote:

Leah (17:31): "He's a loving dog, though. I mean, Michael, you're our dog sitter. The wean sitter. He sees Michael. I bring him to the coffee shop some mornings when Michael's working security."

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6. Stepmomship: Building Trust and Managing Discipline

Leah opens up about her role as a stepmom, drawing from her own experiences in a blended family. She discusses the challenges of gaining trust and acceptance from stepchildren, managing discipline, and fostering a supportive environment. Leah emphasizes the importance of communication, setting clear boundaries, and being a reliable presence in the children's lives.

Key Points:

• Personal history with blended families and its impact on her approach.
• Strategies for building trust and establishing authority without overstepping.
• Balancing involvement with respect for both biological parents.
• Encouraging responsibility and life skills in stepchildren.

Notable Quote:

Leah (20:33): "It's not an easy question. And I grew up in a blended family, so we had step siblings, and it was really difficult."

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7. Adventures and Outdoor Pursuits: Helicopter Rides and Hunting

Leah narrates her adventures with Andy, including helicopter rides and hunting trips. She describes the exhilaration and challenges of these activities, from navigating tight aircraft spaces to the rigorous demands of elk hunting. Their stories highlight a shared passion for outdoor exploration and the bond it fosters between them.

Key Points:

• Experiences and safety considerations during helicopter rides.
• Preparations and physical conditioning for hunting expeditions.
• Memorable encounters with wildlife and the thrill of the hunt.
• Plans for future adventures, including combined Jiu Jitsu and surfing seminars in Costa Rica.

Notable Quote:

Leah (46:44): "Once I got over that, and we were moving over the valley that we live in. It was just really cool. We got to see the ski resort and the lake."

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8. Diet, Fitness, and Training Regimens

Leah discusses her approach to diet and fitness, particularly in the context of supporting her Jiu Jitsu training. She outlines her focus on whole foods, higher protein intake, and functional training like barbell lifts and CrossFit-style workouts. Leah also shares her challenges with weight management in her 40s and the importance of recovery and consistency in her regimen.

Key Points:

• Emphasis on whole foods and macronutrient tracking.
• Incorporation of strength training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
• Strategies for weight management and the impact of aging on metabolism.
• Supplementation with protein powder and creatine for recovery.

Notable Quote:

Leah (59:36): "I'm just trying to stick to whole foods, avoiding processed foods. They do some protein powder. Creatine now has been really helpful with recovery."

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9. Building and Maintaining Relationships Through Jiu Jitsu

The episode concludes with heartfelt reflections on the importance of empathy, kindness, and patience in personal relationships. Leah and Andy commend each other's qualities, emphasizing the strength of their partnership and the mutual support that underpins their adventurous lives.

Key Points:

• Mutual appreciation for each other's empathy and dedication.
• The role of Jiu Jitsu and shared interests in strengthening their bond.
• Encouragement to listeners to seek genuine connections and support systems.

Notable Quotes:

Leah (75:25): "He really does take care of the people around him in a big way. And he will sacrifice his own well-being, health, sleep, to make sure that the people he's taking care of are okay."

Andy (75:55): "The first thing that attracted me to you was just the way that your brain works. You have a capability for empathy that I wish that I had."

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10. Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts

Leah announces an upcoming seminar in Costa Rica, blending Jiu Jitsu instruction with surfing lessons. The seminar not only offers training opportunities but also supports local children's programs through nonprofit partnerships. Andy and Leah invite listeners to join, highlighting the enriching experiences and community impact of their ventures.

Key Points:

• Details about the Costa Rica seminar: Jiu Jitsu and surfing combined.
• Emphasis on supporting children's programs through nonprofit collaborations.
• Opportunities for attendees to engage in various outdoor activities and cultural experiences.

Notable Quote:

Leah (79:46): "It's half Jiu Jitsu instruction. So I'll be teaching the Jiu Jitsu part and then half surfing lessons."

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Conclusion

This episode of Cleared Hot offers a multifaceted look into Leah Stumpf's life, her passions, and her role within the family and community. Through candid conversations and engaging stories, listeners gain insights into balancing personal pursuits with family responsibilities, fostering inclusivity in martial arts, and embracing adventurous lifestyles.

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Resources Mentioned:

• PeakLife Pu'erh Tea Bundles: peaklife.com/ClearedHot
• Mando Deodorant: shopmando.com
• Hero BJJ Seminars: herobjj.com

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Note: The episode contains occasional strong language used in a conversational context.

Transcript

[Leah]

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[Andy]

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[Leah]

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[Michael]

Access and expires in six months.

[Andy]

What'S happening? It's Friday. You know what that means? We're going to do Q and A as advertised and promised. I got to sit down today and do some Q and A with my favorite person on the face of planet Earth. That is right. My wife Leah. We both decided that it was the most, most fair, most non biased to let Michael choose the questions. And as much as I hate to say this, it pains me to say this. He did a good job. He blended some Jiu Jitsu stuff, some life stuff, little relationship stuff. He did a very good job. He blended it all together. It was 200 plus questions. Thank you for everybody who submitted a question and hopefully we'll be able to do it again. It wasn't pressure filled environment. I think she enjoyed it. Took me a year from the last time she was on to get her back in here. Maybe the next time I can do it inside of six months. There are some things we talked about on the show that are in the show notes. So yeah, I think we're set. Let's get into this Friday episode. Before we do, give me a moment to pay the bills and we'll be right into it. Today's episode is brought to you by Peak. Specifically, we're going to be talking about their Pu'erh tea bundles. There's a lot of people out there to include myself that really never drank any tea earlier in life. I didn't like the idea of it. An argument could be made that I have drank and continue to drink far too much coffee, which is helpful in the morning and a little bit hard when it's time to go to sleep. But one thing coffee has never done for me is help me with my gut microbiome, my digestion, and it certainly hasn't helped me calm down and relax a little bit. And those are all things that can be a benefit for from the Pu'erh tea bundles. You may be asking yourself, what is this tea bundle you speak of. I'm going to read it right off of the website so I don't miss anything important. It's a duo of green and black teas designed to transform your gut health, support your metabolism and enhance your overall vitality. Some key benefits that can come with that Gut health naturally fermented for living. Probiotics and prebiotics to balance your microbiome. I am embarrassed to say I didn't pay attention to any of that until about 12 months ago. Longevity. It's packed with antioxidants that fight oxidative stress and support cellular regeneration for radiant skin and vitality. And super convenient. Dissolves instantly in water. No tea bags, no brewing. This is what it looks like or this is one of the examples of what it looks like. Easy to travel with. I never like the idea of seeping tea in a bundle. I'm going to talk about the kit that comes with this and it makes it super convenient. So I mean here's an example right here. This was for digestion and calm. You could just throw this thing in your backpack, your laptop, case, whatever it is. Tea on the go. Assuming you can get some hot water. You don't have to worry about the tea bag. You don't have to worry about the mess after the tea bag. These teas are wild harvested from 250 year old tea trees for unmatched purity and nutrient density. And they use a cold extraction technology which helps retain maximum phyto nutrients. If this sounds like something that you want to give a try, which I highly recommend that you do. This is actually part of my morning routine now. More days of the week than it's not. They have a call to action for you and here's what it is. For a limited time you can get 20% off on the puair bundle plus a free starter kit. The starter kit comes with two really cool things. This rechargeable frother and it comes with a glass beaker which I don't happen to have in front of me right now. That super easy to figure out exactly how much water you want. You could drink it right out of there. If you want to pour it into something else. You can get that by clicking on the link in the show notes. Head over to peaklife.com ClearedHot that is PeakLife P I Q Quebec uniformecolife.com ClearedHot to claim this exclusive offer, let's dive into the Q and A with my wife. Okay, I got the red smoke sun.

[Leah]

Run north or south west of the smoke west of the Smoke.

[Andy]

Okay, copy. West of the smoke.

[Michael]

I'm looking at danger close.

[Andy]

Now give it to me.

[Leah]

I mean, it cleared hot campaign clear.

[Michael]

To get right into the questions.

[Andy]

I don't know. How do you want to kick it off? Yeah, I mean, it's been a year since you've been back. Guess it's about how long it takes me to get you to do stuff.

[Leah]

I wouldn't say that, but.

[Andy]

So I have to start with. Do you hear that noise, Michael? What is that?

[Michael]

Sounds like a church bell.

[Andy]

Church bell?

[Leah]

It's noon.

[Andy]

Yeah, crack of noon. Yeah, crazy crack of 12:33. People were threatening to tell you about something I do when you're not around. So I have to open with sharing a secret.

[Leah]

Okay, well, this is the perfect place, I guess.

[Andy]

Sometimes when you're on the road, I go into the garage in the house and I throw stuff out.

[Leah]

Oh, I'm aware of that.

[Andy]

Oh, God damn it. I thought I was sneaky. None of you fuckers have any leverage on me. I just told her everything.

[Leah]

Yeah, no, it's probably for the best. I have a little bit of a hoarding tendency.

[Andy]

How long have you known that? I've been doing that since you.

[Leah]

Probably since you started.

[Andy]

But you never said anything.

[Leah]

Well, here's a secret for you. Sometimes I come home and take stuff out of the trash.

[Andy]

That's not acceptable.

[Leah]

Some of it's new stuff. It's nice.

[Andy]

All right?

[Leah]

I give it to people.

[Andy]

So I'm gonna have to up my game. I'm not gonna put it in our trash anymore.

[Leah]

Well, maybe you shouldn't have said anything.

[Andy]

It might be somebody's trash on our street. It might be trash elsewhere.

[Leah]

You're gonna get in trouble for garbage diving.

[Andy]

No, no, that would be you. I am just. God damn it. I didn't even consider that.

[Leah]

Yeah, send it a bunch.

[Andy]

Move. Counter move, I guess.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Michael, did you come prepared?

[Michael]

Yeah, I've got quite a few here.

[Andy]

Did you look at some of the questions at all?

[Leah]

I looked at a few. There were some funny comments.

[Andy]

They span quite a few genres. Yeah, I don't think it's fair if I get to pick. Did you have any that you directly wanted to answer, or do you want to turn it completely over to Michael?

[Leah]

Let's let Michael do his thing.

[Andy]

In my experience with Michael, that is not always a good idea, but we're going to he number of times he said he's come prepared and then is completely unprepared is beyond me. Michelle, go ahead.

[Michael]

All right. This one was a popular One, where did Andy take Leah on their first date?

[Leah]

Huh? First date.

[Andy]

What do you consider a first date?

[Leah]

I think our probably official going out would have been the farmhouse in Lakeside.

[Andy]

For breakfast, which is not open anymore.

[Leah]

I know it was a great spot.

[Andy]

That was one of the best breakfast spots in Flathead Valley that I used to tell everybody about. And I believe. Didn't they say the other restaurant associated with that is closed now as well too? The higher end?

[Leah]

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. It's a tough business.

[Andy]

Did you order the chicken and waffles there?

[Leah]

I may have. I don't remember if it was that day. I have had that before, though.

[Andy]

But slight.

[Leah]

Great breakfast spot.

[Andy]

Yeah. I'll be honest, I don't know if I would have been able to recall that that was our first date.

[Leah]

Maybe not.

[Andy]

Yeah, but we did go there for breakfast. All right, Michael, Perfect.

[Leah]

Maybe an anticlimax there. Yeah, sure.

[Michael]

All right. What has it been like for Leah, navigating the martial arts world as a woman? From the beginning, when it was taboo, to now with women's divisions becoming very popular, including women's wrestling at the college.

[Leah]

Level, I was pretty fortunate to eventually find a jiu jitsu gym. You know, my first jiu jitsu experience was in a rec center. And that was a little wild in Alaska.

[Andy]

No women, though, right? Just you?

[Leah]

No, there weren't any women. And there weren't any women the first few years at Travis's Gym.

[Andy]

Either did any join or attempt to join and just change their mind or they just weren't there?

[Leah]

No, they just weren't there. It just wasn't really a thing. And you rolled your first day back then, so you were sparring the very moment you came in. So I was losing immediately, you know, but I was not getting hurt. I was being treated well. You know, I was being encouraged. It was fun. It was a good group of guys. They were all more experienced than me. They'd all had some wrestling or Ms. And Travis is my coach for Straight Blast Gym, Montana. And then eventually I was over with Matt Thornton at Straight Blast Gym in Portland. And both of them are very encouraging of having women in the gym. It's just. It's a very tough sport. And there wasn't really a great on ramp at the time, so there weren't many of us. The first match I had with a woman was at a tournament in Helena.

[Andy]

Well built.

[Leah]

We were white belts. I think she might have been a blue belt or pretty close. I think she was even a teen. And I think I won One lost one. No, no. I think I, I might have even lost both. I had her in a triangle at one point. Oh, yes, I did finish that. So I, I, I won the first one. I think I lost the second one and I think I lost one more after that. I don't think I won. You know, it was, that was my first experience and I didn't really know what to expect. Again. I hadn't rolled with another female before, so it was easier for sure.

[Andy]

Size and strength and athleticism is real.

[Leah]

Yeah. So the coaches that I worked with facilitated that. My coach, Travis's wife was starting to get involved and she eventually became a black belt, but she was always kind of in the background. She was running the yoga side of things and so she was really encouraging. And they wanted to grow the gym so they knew they were going to need, they had a kids program. I think any gym that wants to really survive and thrive in the community includes everyone. They're not just, it's not just a bunch of dudes rolling around. There are gyms like that that are.

[Andy]

It'S a certain flavor.

[Leah]

Yeah. Successful. It's more of like a garage style gym and they're super fun. More like a clubhouse, close knit. You gotta be real tough to be on those mats. A lot of times they're more weeding people out than including everyone, which it shifts the culture of the gym. It's interesting. So I, you know, it was, I was encouraged, I was included. I felt protected by my training partners, not taken advantage of. I was losing all the time. But I thought it was funny. You know, you just have to, you have to laugh or you're gonna quit, I guess.

[Andy]

Or cry.

[Leah]

Or cry. Yeah, Cry in the shower.

[Andy]

When did you notice the. Yeah, it's hard to tell if you're crying if you do it in the shower. When did you notice the, I don't want to say the explosion of women into jiu jitsu. It's definitely, there's a lot more. What word would you use to describe women's participation?

[Leah]

I think it's been a slow increase, but in a good way. Every year I compete, I see more women. So I just competed a few weeks ago in Helena and there were a ton of women there. There were probably about 500 people at the tournament and I would say a good hundred of them were women, little girls, teens, adults. We had a women's black belt division. It was absolute, absolute. It was, you know, kind of four different weight classes, age groups, and we all just combined and did matches. And that was I never imagined there'd be enough black belts in Montana. For a really long time. I was the only one living here, female black belt. And so that was really cool. There was nothing a men's black belt division. So in Helena, in that last tournament, yeah, there was just. The ladies threw down. And I will say, a lot of those ladies did nogi too. I kind of. I was coaching and I didn't do the nogi, but a lot of them came back at like 5pm and did no GI too. So it was cool.

[Andy]

What's the most successful thing you've seen a gym do to encourage female participants?

[Leah]

I think having a ladies class goes a really long way. The more women you get on the mat, I think the critical mass is about 10, and then it'll kind of start growing itself. But that first 10 is so hard to gain and maintain. I think having a ladies class is really important. Having a beginner class is huge. And then if you can get some ladies to step over, you already got women in your gym. I guarantee. Girlfriends, wives, daughters, sisters. Yep. Moms of kids. And they're watching. They're in the gym sometimes more consistently than your own members. And if you can get them to step onto the mat, grab a partner, grab another mom, grab a. A friend that's their size and just get out there and kind of have fun with it. So they're not rolling with guys initially. That can be a great transition. So it continues to grow. I remember when the brown and black. There wasn't a black belt division at World for the women, it was brown and black combined because there just weren't enough. And then suddenly one year there were black belts. And then they've added weight classes and age, you know, now there's the master's division. So it's. And it's continued to grow. It's cool.

[Andy]

I think so, too.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Michael]

All right. So kind of going off of that one, in your opinion, what age is too late to start jiu jitsu? What obstacles do you see for an older student? I'm 42, relatively fit, and have always wanted to try it. What concerns me is getting injured.

[Andy]

But I started when I was 41.

[Leah]

Yeah. I don't think there's any age that's too late.

[Andy]

How about for Vaughn?

[Leah]

For Vaughn, you just have to manage your expectations.

[Andy]

My expectation would be maybe he could pick himself up. If he fell over, he.

[Leah]

His problem would be he would go hard. He would. He would be throwing down.

[Andy]

I don't even know what that would look like. He's such a decrepit age, and that's.

[Leah]

Not true at all. He's still a pretty big guy, and he could still. He goes to the gym probably five days a week at least. He's. He's still pretty fit and he has that competitive spirit. So the challenge becomes, do you to move like you did when you were 20?

[Andy]

He would.

[Leah]

Yes, yes. And that would be the problem. So he'd have to. The person would have to adjust their expectations. And you learn that pretty quickly. It's always a potential to get injured, but if you're careful choosing your training partners, you allow yourself to recover and let go of things, you know, so if you're in a bad position, you sometimes have to let go. Instead of letting yourself get folded in half or bent up, or if you're in a submission, you need to tap early, not try to thrash your way out. That's when people get hurt. So I think you can. It's kind of like snowboarding. It's like you can be dropping cliffs and doing, you know, crazy stuff in the park, or you can just cruise groomers, you know, And I think you can start that later in life. So you're. You just have to, I think, do it at a little bit slower pace. But it depends on the person. Like, we've got a guy in the gym right now that's in his 40s, but he's a CrossFit coach part time. He wrestled, and he's gnarly, you know, I mean, he won against a bunch of much younger guys at this tournament. He ran a half marathon the day before, you know, so it depends on what kind of shape you've kept yourself in. He ended up finally breaking his toe, sweeping one of our guys. He picked him up, he body locked him and kicked his legs out and he broke his toe. And that was his last match.

[Andy]

Oh, like foot straight into.

[Leah]

No, no, it was just sideways. I. I don't know if it caught on the mat or caught the guy's feet. He took him down. It was a beautiful takedown. But they were standing there and he's realizing it's probably not going to be possible for him to continue. So I told his teammate, I was like, that means you win. Cause he had already lost to him earlier that day. I was like, you win.

[Andy]

This one goes in the W column.

[Leah]

Yeah, W column.

[Andy]

Yeah, yeah. Worry less about how it gets into the W column and just worry about which column it's in.

[Leah]

Yeah. Can hear the. I wonder if the wean will be. You can hear him in the back.

[Andy]

He'll be fine. He can't hear it through the speakers or the microphone. 78 years old. You would let my dad start jiu jitsu if you want to.

[Leah]

We've had people start that way and be really successful in foundations, in the drilling class. They just have to be really cautious who they train with. There's a lady that's that age in Portland that's training now. She just got her blue belt.

[Andy]

Wow.

[Leah]

And then there's, you know, Dr. John over there, got his black belt. He started at 60. Lily, our first female black belt, started at 50, got her black belt at 60. They were active people, you know, So I don't know if I've had someone that was truly never active that started at that age. But if you've been active and you're still moving pretty well, I think it's very possible.

[Andy]

I actually think it's unlikely if somebody has not been active at their life, that they make it to 78.

[Leah]

That's, you know, possible.

[Andy]

Sedentary lifestyle is not correlated well with an extended lifespan.

[Leah]

True.

[Andy]

So.

[Michael]

All right, which one of you is Javelin's favorite human? All dogs have a favorite in the house, especially wieners.

[Leah]

This is really contentious, actually.

[Andy]

He chose you last night. He showed me no love, affection, or regard.

[Leah]

We're actually both very jealous about this. This is the one thing that we're like. It's actually kind of heartbreaking when I watch him run. Sometimes I'll let him out of his cage, and he'll run past me to Andy, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. But then, you know, he'll sit with me or something, and he'll kind of upset Andy. I think Andy's probably really his person. He gets really nervous if he gets too far away from him, if we're all walking together. He's had some breakdowns at the airport. If Andy got too far ahead. We realized last time he thinks that our roller bags are chasing Andy, and.

[Andy]

So he freaked out in the parking lot.

[Leah]

It's 1am we land in the Kalispell parking lot. And I realized this. Cause he's kind of shrieking. He'd done pretty well. He did great on the plane. And then Andy's walking the parking lot. And I said, I think he thinks they're chasing you. So Andy starts running and swerving as if the suitcases are getting after him. And he jumped out of my arms, and he was like a trout in the air, just thrashing around and barking and trying to get to Andy to. I Guess help him. So the suitcases didn't get him. Any advice on training that out would be welcome from any listeners.

[Andy]

Absolutely hate the garbage cans that wheel to the street.

[Leah]

Growly sound. Yeah. And he does think the trash cans are chasing us, too, I realize, because they're behind us and they're making this sound. So he has to be put somewhere. So I think. Short answer. It's Andy. He. Sometimes he does sleep in our bed. Does not. He's never slept in a crate. Maybe one time when Michael watched him because he was being a jerk, which was fair. And sometimes he'll sleep over Andy's head like a hat. Like he'll arch himself around his head on the pillow, which is never worse.

[Andy]

It's too worse, by the way.

[Leah]

It's not a good night's sleep, but it's really cute. And I do feel like that maybe he's kind of protecting him. Slash. Maybe it's a dominant thing. Maybe he thinks he's the boss. I don't know.

[Andy]

He's a loving dog, though. I mean, Michael, you're our dog sitter. The wean sitter. He sees Michael. I bring him to the coffee shop some mornings when Michael's working security. As soon as he recognizes him, he starts making that whiny. He, like, jumps up into his arms.

[Leah]

Oh, yeah.

[Michael]

He goes crazy.

[Andy]

But he only does that with a few people. He does not do that. He does that for Leah, obviously. He does that when he sees me. He does it for you a little bit. For my dad. I think he's seen him enough. But really, other than. And for the kids? For both, actually. All Tyler, for sure.

[Leah]

He's somewhat afraid of Julia.

[Andy]

Someone afraid of Julia because she keeps fucking running at him. And so he'll run at her, put the brakes on and just haul ass under the couch or pee everywhere and pee everywhere. Riley, he absolutely loves. So. He's super loving, but he doesn't know you. He's still nice. I've never even seen him have the indication of biting anybody. But we can just say that one's a tie. He's. We're both his favorite.

[Leah]

We can tell ourselves that.

[Andy]

He showed me no regard last night. He slept with you the whole night and was still under the covers?

[Leah]

Yeah. I don't know. It's a coin toss. Maybe. It depends on the day. Depends on who has food, maybe.

[Andy]

There. There is that as well. All right.

[Leah]

Michael.

[Michael]

How did you approach being a stepmom? What challenges did you face with gaining trust and acceptance with them? How do you manage Discipline, reinforcement, and life issues. What advice could you give to a woman who is stepping into that type of situation? As well as advice to the dad on how to make a transition and loving home for the kids.

[Leah]

Oh, I saw this question. This is a really good one, actually.

[Andy]

Not an easy question.

[Leah]

No, it isn't. And I grew up in a blended family, so we had step siblings, and it was really difficult. Like, it never quite gelled my. Without getting too far into it, my step siblings had lost to their mother at a pretty young age. And I don't think we're really given proper time to grieve. So it never quite blended. You know, it was always really difficult until my mom and stepdad end up splitting. So I came into this knowing how challenging it could be, and it was definitely something I was concerned about. You know, I've read blogs and, you know, kind of parenting forums and things like that. So I kind of did some research. I've talked to. My aunt was a stepmom. You know, my mom was a stepmom. So I've kind of talked to family members, and the kids have two involved parents, so I'm able to be kind of a bonus adult and kind of a guide on the side and not have to do too much in terms of disciplining. There's been a few times with Julia, particularly where I was home with her myself, and that was really tough because we're wanting to. You know, she's wanting to call dad to ask permission for things. And so I try to get some ground rules if that's going to happen beforehand, about what is allowed, what is not allowed. And there's definitely a disconnect. So at this point, she really needs to stay. She ends up having to stay with her mom or with Andy in town. Like, it just. It didn't work. Um, so that was. That was tough.

[Andy]

And, you know, looking back at it objectively, she's a very smart kid.

[Leah]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy]

And it wasn't.

[Leah]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy]

And it wasn't accidental. So for anybody out there, your kids are gonna feel the seams, where there's overlap and where there's not. And if they have something that they want to do, they are going to try to work it towards where there's a seam and use. You know, if. If a mom and dad are in the same house, it's probably pretty hard to get away with telling an incomplete story to one without the other person telling the other. When you're in different homes, you can parse your information out, and it's a Little bit easier to push the limit, change the story a little bit, and get away with something. You wouldn't if both parents were living in the same house, for sure.

[Leah]

So I. I luckily don't often have to have any conversations about discipline. You know, Tyler lived with us full time, so we had conversations about being a responsible and caring housemate, which were resoundingly ignored. Not always. Not always. I think he improved a lot.

[Andy]

I started putting his dishes on his bed.

[Leah]

Yes, that did happen after a while.

[Andy]

And started cutting the dick hole out of his boxers.

[Leah]

That was. He was raiding your underwear drawer for a while. Yeah, that was.

[Andy]

Payback is a bitch.

[Leah]

But I do think he improved. And it's a life skill to be able to live with other people and take care of your own messes. And at some point, you know, he's going to want to live with a girlfriend or, you know, roommates. And nothing is worse than a house full of teenage boys that have a common area that no one really takes care of, you know, So I had those conversations with him and so some type of guidance. And I'm always there to listen if. If they want to. But I've realized, you know, watching Andy, it's like the harder you push, the more they go in the opposite direction as teens. So, you know, when he and I got married, they were already teens, which is a really challenging age because they want all the independence and all of the responsibility, but just haven't gotten the judgment yet. So it is terrifying to watch.

[Andy]

Their brain is not even fully formed.

[Leah]

Right. Yeah. So doing the best I can to be a listener, a helper, a guide when needed. Two of the boys are doing jiu jitsu now, which is so cool. You know, I've gotten to train Tyler and train with him, and now his oldest, Riley, is starting to train, too, which has been a really cool thing to talk about and, you know, have in common. So I feel like the relationships have gone in the right direction. And I've tried to talk to them and be really honest about things if they were bothering me. But it's a. It's a difficult line to tread, and I have to leave space for both of their parents, who are, again, very involved. So I try to kind of stay in that role. And if I've stepped out of that and been like, this would be a good idea, or obviously, you should just take this away, it usually goes really poorly. So it's easy to look at it from the outside and be like, this was. This is a simple solution. But they're Humans and they're figuring things out and it's, you know, he knows them much better than I do at the end of the day, so I have to defer.

[Andy]

We should talk about Riley's power move in jiu jitsu.

[Leah]

What's that?

[Andy]

He comes to the house and gets fully dressed in his GI to include tying his belt.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And drives to the gym and then walks from his car fully just prepared for combat at any time.

[Michael]

That's awesome.

[Leah]

I have a few students that do that. I mean, I have a female brown belt that does that and has since she was a teen. And she's like, it saves time.

[Andy]

Riley did say when it's motorcycle weather he will ride to the gym in his gi. I hope he does power move.

[Leah]

Yeah, he will get his belt too.

[Andy]

Oh, he 100% stripes.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

We will 100% wear his belt. And he's going to get some really bizarre looks. I love it. He came over and just like practice his belt. Practice his belt. Practice his belt. And he'll just stand there and just tie it and tie it and tie it. And they're like, all right, gotta go to class.

[Leah]

Yeah, he's getting into it and I think it's awesome. And he is right. I've watched other people do that. They just throw on their winter boots and just say, well, see you later, coach. And they just walk out in their uniform.

[Andy]

I would feel really awkward walking around town in a gi.

[Leah]

It's not a pride thing. It's an efficiency thing for them. You know, I don't.

[Andy]

Be better with your time and you don't have to worry about it. Save yourself five, go there five minutes early.

[Leah]

Think of that over the span of the year. Ten minutes of practice, it's worth it. Yeah. I don't know. Hours back. They're getting hours back, I guess.

[Andy]

So if you see my son walking around in his gi, he's not trying to fight you. He's going to class.

[Michael]

Okay, what's the earliest recommended age for kids to start? Bjj. And if kids are past that age and the in between ages, what do you recommend in getting them started? As far as reducing intimidation or any.

[Leah]

Uncomfortableness, we start kids at our gym as young as three or even two and a half. If they're potty trained, they do a 45 minute class. I've seen other gyms where they have a half hour class or they have a parent child class where the parent can go in and that's a one to one ratio. That's very smart. I could See that going well. We have a new instructor. She runs a preschool as well. She's excellent. She just took over Travis's three and four year old class. They had a code yellow yesterday. It's a tough. It's a tough class. So they're just still so little.

[Andy]

Are the code yellows usually just a little like a little accident? Are we talking puddle down the leg?

[Leah]

This was to the point where another kid slipped and fell. Yeah. And like laid out.

[Andy]

Share it. Yeah.

[Leah]

Cool. So it was kind of traumatic for more than one.

[Andy]

I mean that's just child.

[Leah]

It was kind of a. That is not normal. This is something that does not happen very often. They have to be bathroom independent or potty trained to do the class. So it's rare. But every once in a while they just kind of get focused on what they're doing and.

[Andy]

And just urine down their leg.

[Leah]

Yeah. So that one was kind of a bigger one. Sometimes it'll be just kind of a little bit, but yeah, so it's. That is when we start them and they do a lot of body awareness, a lot of coordination, work, socialization, starting to cooperate, starting to actually think of other people, which really, they don't do that till after teen years. But we start trying to get them to think about empathy and other people's needs or concerns.

[Andy]

Two and a half.

[Leah]

Yeah. Yeah. Not that they can fully do it. I mean, their brains aren't quite there yet, but we have them. Especially if they're working toward a common goal in a game or as a class. You tell them, hey, we're gonna miss game time if we don't get through warmups. They're like, oh, okay, we better. Hey, you straighten up. You know, they'll kind of look at their teammates and be like, we gotta get it together, guys.

[Andy]

I think anybody who teaches children that age deserves a sainthood. I don't even know if I could walk at two and a half. I don't. How could you possibly teach Jiu Jitsu?

[Leah]

They remember a lot and there are certain positions that they, they can do really well. They remember more than you think. They're sponges at that age. So they come into my 5 and 6 year old class already having a pretty good base and I would say much better core strength than a lot of kids their age. So we kind of help them step through those developmental milestones that they would normally hit. But we're focusing on that and adding that we have a life skill component to the program as well. So they're talking about things like this Month. The life skill is leadership. So they have a little story. They talk about the word, the idea, they think about it. Can all of them say that word or know what it means at the end of the month? Maybe not in that class, but the five and six year olds, I would say yes. If you have kids that are a little older, I think anything under nine, you can kind of choose activities for them much older than that, they start to get some preferences of their own. They've been around a little bit, they've seen sports in gym, what their friends play, what they get to expose to on tv. But I think under that parents just need to pick some activities they think are going to be helpful in building resilience, frustration tolerance, socialization. I think jiu jitsu is great for that.

[Andy]

While it's on my mind, I know you've had a bunch of students, you've started them young and eventually they trail off. Is there anything that you've identified that is more likely to get somebody to give up on it at that younger age?

[Leah]

Well, let's. I'll finish Michael's question first. They asked what can make the kids more comfortable. Having a friend in the class is certainly helpful. If you have a kid that's really shy, they can also. I've had kids watch class on the side, so just getting them dressed, having them sit on the side with their parents sometimes for two weeks before they're ready to step on the mat or maybe they just do warm ups and come back off. But they have to know they're not going to be forced and if it's, they need to build a relationship with the coach and the student so they feel like they have a helper, like they have an advocate there and that eventually their parents should be able to leave the room. The three and four year old class is in a back room so the parents can watch on a closed circuit tv. So that helps. So there's a little parent separation. Not that they don't have to go back there sometimes, but it's helpful to have that. In terms of kids trailing off, that usually happens around teen years where they just socially they're growing their friend group and if they get a girlfriend or boyfriend, that can be the real kiss of death. Lose some kids that way.

[Andy]

What if they're in class?

[Leah]

They're just very busy. Oh man. Yeah, don't even go there. Yeah, I mean it certainly happened. It's stressful for everyone involved but you know, so that can be part of it. They're just, they're applying to college. They're doing extracurriculars. You know, I have some kids now that they're playing two sports. So it's like the season in between that they'll do jiu jitsu, you know, or they'll do jiu jitsu in the summer, but around their job that they have, and around their clubs and their other skill building and their internships, you know, so they just get really busy. Some of them come back if they stay in the area and they go to community college or they get a job. I've had kids go to college and find it again in college and come back, you know, train at a different gym or we have gyms in Bozeman and Missoula, where there's universities. So there's a big community there. You know, Tyler is out in Bozeman and has access to the gym out there in that community.

[Andy]

Have you noticed the harder the parents push, the less likely it is for the student to sustain? In those teen years, maybe younger, like you were saying, they have a little bit less of a choice.

[Leah]

I don't. At teen years, they don't want to be told to do anything. So if I have a teen, especially if they've been in the program for a while and they tell me, I just don't want to do this anymore, they've done it enough where they understand what it is. They're losing interest. If you force them to stay in that class, they can ruin the culture of the class. You know, I've had a few kids like that lately, and they kind of self select it out. But I had a conversation with them. We sat down and looked, said, let's look at the end of your membership. I'm gonna call your mom and let's talk about, what are you gonna do instead? I never mind if they leave, but I want them to do something physical where they have that social interaction. And again, they're building resilience. The kids that quit younger, I find, often have really low frustration tolerance. And their parents are enabling that rather than pushing them through. So I would say at our gym anyway, it's much less likely that I have a parent that's pushing their kid really hard competitively. That's super rare, actually. I have a couple kids that are blending wrestling seasons with jiu jitsu, but the kid's usually pretty into it at that point. Again, it's about teen years where they might get kind of burnt out. They're like, I just kind of don't want to do this every day anymore. Which they've done. They put a lot of time and effort into it, so that's okay. And they may come back. But the kids who again, kind of quit before they get to really start, before they even get to spar, or before they get to really understand what Jiu Jitsu is, are the ones that getting mad in games. I didn't get picked as it today. You know, I had a conversation with a parent recently, and if he's been getting upset, she. He just leaves the mat. I was like, you've got to get him a. Give him a chance to work through that and at least sit on the side even if we. If we can't return to class. And he's very young, so lots of room for growth.

[Andy]

Okay.

[Michael]

All right. Hello. From Connecticut.

[Andy]

It's called Connecticut.

[Michael]

Oh, excuse me.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Michael]

For the Mrs. Since Andy bought into BJJ and now that is a. A common denominator in both your lives, is there any interest or have you already gone for a tandem with Andy?

[Andy]

Oh, yes.

[Michael]

If so, any interest in pursuing an A license?

[Andy]

Testing gravity. A license, I think, is 20 jumps.

[Leah]

Does that mean by yourself, you jump.

[Andy]

By yourself to get your A license, you'll go through the AFF or accelerated free fall program. Most people start with a tandem, then they have an instructor holding on to each side. I think at the now you go out with one instructor. Level four is, I believe, the release dive, where they let go of you and you're actually falling on your own. Seven jumps in, you can graduate. I think if you get to 20, you're eligible for your A license.

[Leah]

So zero interest in that. Like less than zero. If there was a number smaller than zero, like negative 100 interest in that. I don't like the feeling of falling. The idea of it doesn't feel like falling. Terrifying. I've heard that. Well, but the first few feet for sure.

[Andy]

No. There is zero sensation the aircraft is.

[Leah]

Falling until you hit terminal velocity. There's got to be some feeling of falling.

[Andy]

If you do an zero airspeed jump out of a hot air balloon, you'll feel the stomach rising. If you do a.

[Leah]

Who jumps out of a hot air balloon first? You're going to jump out of a plane?

[Andy]

No, out of a plane. I'm saying you're not going to feel it.

[Leah]

If you talk to Adam Singer, you might get sucked right into the propeller.

[Andy]

Yeah. Adam Singer is one of the smartest people I know. Have you heard this story?

[Michael]

No.

[Leah]

That's such a good podcast. If you haven't listened to the series.

[Andy]

It opened with him and his brother. And I think the first words out of their mouth were, and then I stepped on his dick.

[Leah]

They didn't know you were recording, but.

[Andy]

Yeah, which is fine.

[Leah]

That was how it started. Yeah.

[Andy]

This man does science for a living.

[Leah]

He makes vaccines.

[Andy]

He tried to tell me that there was a chance that if he exited the aircraft in flight, a skydiving aircraft, which, by the way, he was telling me the door was on the incorrect side of the aircraft to begin with. So this is giving me an idea of his recall in the moment that if he pushed forward hard enough, he'd get sucked into the engine.

[Leah]

He was. So he was also, I think, equally scared. And he actually went through the whole thing. So I have nothing but respect for.

[Andy]

Him, but there is no sensation. So even a Twin Otter or a Caravan, which would be very traditional skydiving aircraft, they slow down on exit, so there's not as much wind that hits you, but you're still doing 70, 80 knots. So that's going to be close to 90 miles per hour. You do not get, even for an instant, the stomach rise you feel. You go right into the mood.

[Leah]

I mean, you have to sit there in the airplane knowing that you're gonna jump out of it. I mean, there's a lot of anxiety around that. So I would consider doing a tandem with Andy only, and then that would probably be the end of my skydiving career. You know, Kate Riggles has some real horror stories from doing those boogies down in. I don't know where they do them in Montana.

[Andy]

Oh, it's the Lost Prairie Boogie.

[Leah]

Yeah. Just horror stories. I mean, one of them, I think it was her instructor, the tandem guy's first cutaway, you know, so she got to experience that. Like. No, I'm surprised she.

[Andy]

You, honestly.

[Leah]

No, thank you.

[Andy]

You would not even know that it happened.

[Leah]

Oh, she knew it happened because he probably told her. No, it was. He's like, well, looks like we're going to have to cut away. And there was a.

[Andy]

See, that's the mistake.

[Leah]

Massive, massive jolt. She ended up hurting your ankle. It sounded terrible. Yeah.

[Andy]

No, the move is. As the instructor, if you need to cut away for any tandem masses out there, if you need to get your passenger back into the right position, but you don't say shit, and then you just cut away and you go on with your day. Tell them about it when you're on the ground.

[Leah]

Unacceptable.

[Andy]

You wouldn't even notice the difference.

[Leah]

Yeah, yeah, probably because I would have.

[Andy]

My eyes closed, but, yeah, you have no idea. So My favorite tandem exit is you go out with your back facing into the wind and you do a backflip. The number. It's almost always guys, too. They're like, hey, I want to do that. And we get to the ground and they say, I thought you were going to do backflip. And we can go right back to the video. And this is. This is them on exit.

[Leah]

Yeah. Whereas I don't blame them jumping out of a plane.

[Andy]

Women are better students. They respond to the commands better. I've never had a woman jump refuse on me. But I have had some dudes change their mind at the door. We still went fine. Yes, sir. Here's the move, because they'll grab the bar and you say, sir. Totally get it. You need to let go of the bar so we can get back in the aircraft. They do. You bear hug them and out you go.

[Leah]

Yep. Could see that. Yeah. So the answer is negative, but it's handed.

[Andy]

Maybe.

[Leah]

Yeah, I. I would maybe do that.

[Andy]

Let's try a wind tunnel where there's no altitude at all. And they just. They turn the recirculating fan on and you can just.

[Michael]

Right there.

[Leah]

Yeah, that doesn't bother me too much. If the whole thing stops, you just fall on the ground.

[Andy]

I mean, you'd be. Well, even if it does stop, the span, the fan spools down. So you would just decrease until you're on the net. It's got a net. Yeah.

[Leah]

Yeah. Either way, that doesn't matter.

[Andy]

Then tandem, then aff.

[Leah]

Nope. Hard. No.

[Andy]

I'll be one of the AFF instructors.

[Leah]

Good for you. You can teach Tyler. He's real excited about it.

[Andy]

I don't know if I want to take Tyler.

[Leah]

He's. He's great under pressure. He does not get afraid. He has. He has kind of that same.

[Andy]

Yeah, that's the problem.

[Leah]

Deal that you have. Well, he thinks very calmly and clearly under that.

[Andy]

No, he'd be the kind of kid who in mid free fall, would, like, unzip his fly and whip his dong out and just.

[Leah]

Okay. I don't know if we'd go that far, but I could see him trying to.

[Andy]

Can you see Tyler doing that, Michael.

[Michael]

You know him while he's falling?

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Attached to somebody. A tandem instructor.

[Andy]

Solo.

[Michael]

Yeah. I could see him doing it.

[Andy]

So people do naked skydive. Well, you saw it when we were in Iceland.

[Leah]

Oh, believe me, I saw it. Saw way more than I wanted.

[Andy]

And you know what's interesting? Nobody wants to see that. I don't know why they do it. And Those poor bastards landed miles off the drop zone nude and had to work their way back.

[Leah]

Yeah, well, I don't know. Ultimate freedom, I guess. To each their own. I have no judgment of someone doing that. I just. It's just not. I do for me.

[Andy]

I don't want to see that.

[Leah]

Not for me. That's okay.

[Andy]

Hot dog. Just getting smashed around like nobody wants to see that.

[Leah]

All right, moving on.

[Michael]

Okay. What qualities should I look for in a BJJ gym for my son and for my son and I to start training at. It seems difficult to wade through all the BS in a sport I know nothing about. For context, my son is still single digits in age.

[Leah]

I wrote a blog about this actually, because I get this question so often, but the gym should look like a good cross section of the community. One of my coaches, Kane Prevost out of Portlando's, used to say that. So you should see smaller people, older people, ladies, children, a good group of each. And you know that the smaller, weaker people are being encouraged to grow and get stronger instead of being weeded out. So if you go in and it's a bunch of 20 year old, 200 pound dudes, you're probably going to get good, but it's going to be hard. And maybe not the greatest place for a smaller, older or, you know, female student. There's always one girl that makes it there, you know, do you.

[Andy]

Is that blog post still alive?

[Leah]

Yeah, that's on a WordPress. Yeah.

[Andy]

Do you want to link it to the episode? So I'll put it in the show notes?

[Leah]

Yeah, I can link it. And proximity matters. I've seen very few families make it if the commute is more than an hour, so that's a big one. But explore all of the gyms within an hour and the one that feels like it has the best vibe, the best community is going to matter more than, you know, the Jiu Jitsu lineage or think about your goals. You know, that's another important thing. If the. If you want your kid to compete or just going to check on the wean. If you want your kid to compete, make sure that they have a competition team. Or if you want it to be more self defense based, make sure that they cover that. I mean, I think every even sport, Jiu Jitsu has some application to self defense, but some gyms have more of an emphasis than others and you may get frustrated if you're in a gym that's really competition based and you're like, well, I want to do MMA or I want to you know, really work on self defense or I'm a law enforcement officer. You can always tool your own jiu jitsu to what you're interested in. But if the curriculum is all based around that, the first two years can be difficult. So just, yeah, consider the proximity goals and then, you know, the community piece is huge. And those three things are kind of almost equally important, I find in keeping a student around. And so watch, watch a class first or have the kid do a practice class. Make sure there's enough instructors to students. If it's a massive class and they don't have enough helpers there, it's not as safe and it's difficult to learn. We have a lot of students that help us. I have teens and junior students that are working on their coaching and I let them teach little sections of the class. They lead warmups, they. It's just more eyes on the mat. And I have usually some adult helpers too and I try to keep it especially for the four and five year olds. One instructor for every four to five kids would be a max. I do not like to go over that because they're just sometimes do crazy stuff. So you need a lot of eyes on the mat.

[Andy]

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[Michael]

All right, I want to hear Leah's thoughts on the helicopter ride and possible future helicopter adventures.

[Andy]

Yes.

[Leah]

Helicopter ride. Yeah. So I guess I was a little more nervous than I realized. I was kind of avoiding it unconsciously because when we actually got there, I was like, oh, I'm a little more nervous than I thought. I've only ridden in one. I was in the back on the lake.

[Andy]

You've ridden in one twice though. So you went there and back. You've had four helicopter rides.

[Leah]

Yes. So many helicopter rides. Said I was at the back one of the times I made a mistake and I was sitting backwards. That was not my favorite. But we, it was only, you know, maybe a 15 minute ride out to backcountry ski lodge.

[Andy]

I don't even know if it was that long. That was quick.

[Leah]

I had a bald face. Yeah, that was awesome. But really, really, it was cool. But, you know, we had a little training video, and I used to work for the forest Service, and every once in a while, you know, the fire helicopters just crash. So I know that, you know, and it's, you know. So I had that in mind. And then we get in this helicopter, and the whole front is glass, and it's just small compared to the other one we'd been in. So. I trust you completely. The helicopter, however, you know, I mean.

[Andy]

That'S what all the training is for.

[Leah]

Sure. So much training.

[Andy]

I would say 70 to 80% of your license. Beyond the basic control of the helicopter is emergency procedures. What do you do if you lose an engine down low? What do you do if you lose an engine on takeoff? What do you do if there's one high over mountainous terrain, over trees, over water?

[Leah]

Yeah, I mean, if. I think if it was at all manageable, you would manage it, but, you know, there might be one that's not. So it was just a consideration.

[Andy]

Make shit up.

[Leah]

It was a consideration.

[Andy]

You work that shit out, you make it work.

[Leah]

Sure. So anyway, it was. Once I got over that, and we were. We were, you know, kind of moving over the valley that we live in. It was just really cool. We got to see the ski resort and, you know, the lake. We went by White. White Fish Lake and all the way over Kalispell. Some of our friends in class saw you, saw us go over. Yeah. So that was kind of funny, but totally different perspective. So cool. You know, I'm excited to maybe get to some more remote places where we could do some camping, fishing, you know, maybe even snowboarding in the future.

[Andy]

Do you want to fly it? There's a set of controls I can put in there for you.

[Leah]

Absolutely not.

[Andy]

A little bit?

[Leah]

No. Not even. There's not even one part of me. Yeah.

[Andy]

How are we going to train you for. If I pass out? You have to land it.

[Leah]

That's. That's not gonna happen, honey.

[Andy]

But I'm gonna put the other controls in there, and I'm gonna pretend to pass out because we have to get.

[Leah]

You right doing that. No. Nope. I mean, I would do my best, I guess, but I'm not thinking that would go very well.

[Andy]

Don't worry about doing your best. We'll practice. We'll put together a training protocol. We'll call it the stroke training protocol. When I freaking stroke out and you're like, I got this. You just land it.

[Leah]

No, no, thank you.

[Andy]

A little bit.

[Leah]

We have, like, a Venn diagram of interest. There's like a tiny little crossover there.

[Andy]

It's like Sliver being alive, isn't that?

[Leah]

Yeah, I guess that's true.

[Andy]

Michael went for his first. Was that two days ago? When was that?

[Michael]

Yeah, two days ago.

[Andy]

What do you think?

[Leah]

What'd you think?

[Andy]

Same helicopter. So what do you think?

[Michael]

It was awesome. Yeah, I was, like, a little bit nervous.

[Andy]

That's just you in general, like, Monday through Friday.

[Michael]

Yeah. Not in your skills, but just in like, you.

[Andy]

That. Unfortunately, both of you guys, your nervousness is placed in the wrong area. Like, I'm fine with your skills, but these twin turbines, those are just gonna not work at some point. You really should be looking in the other direction with that.

[Leah]

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, it. It's. It's pretty neat. It's a. It's feels very. You feel very small. I guess.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Michael]

I also got a little motion sickness on our way back.

[Andy]

Did you really?

[Michael]

Yeah. What caused it?

[Andy]

But you didn't say anything.

[Michael]

No. Cause I wasn't that bad.

[Leah]

Yeah. And also, he's gotta be super tough.

[Andy]

He should try to be. Let's be honest. Was it the left, right, or up or down? Was there a combination? Cause it was. We had a tailwind on the way back, so we were making better time. But I don't remember it being any more sachet. If you.

[Michael]

It was right when we were about to go over Wild Horse Island. For some reason, I think we were getting a little bumpy on there. I think that may have done it, but.

[Andy]

Yeah. Yeah. You just gotta look out, look at the horizon a little bit.

[Michael]

And that helped.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And it went away after I did.

[Andy]

That, but, God, I wish you would have told me it was feeling nauseous.

[Michael]

Yeah, that's why I didn't.

[Leah]

That's why I knew he knows you well enough by now. Yeah.

[Andy]

Like, oh, check me here. I'm here, I'm here.

[Leah]

Yeah. No, no one needs that. Then you had a clean puke out of your helicopter. How fun is that?

[Andy]

And make him do that inside of his own shirt.

[Leah]

Ew.

[Andy]

Yeah. Is there a few bags? Nope. But you're wearing a T shirt. Pull the old collar of that out.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

So you're open to more helicopter adventures.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And I need your help exposing the wean.

[Leah]

Yeah. Yep. I do think. I think he would be okay sitting with one of us. He's flown a bunch of times now, and Handled being right over the wing.

[Andy]

Well, what I want to do next week is have him all set up with his ear pro. I don't think. I don't think he needs to wear the goggles. Maybe he should, for content, turn it on and just let it idle. So he's used to that because he's been in the helicopter, walking around. He doesn't seem to have an issue. And then the very first time, just hover for maybe a minute, come back down, and just hand him off. And then, like, the third or fourth time, we'll take him for a flight, a little flight. I think he's gonna dig it.

[Leah]

Yeah, we'll see.

[Michael]

All right. Did Andy get you into hunting, and how was your first. How was your experience hunting elk for the first time?

[Leah]

I had done a little bit of hunting. I was always really interested in it, but I didn't have any family members or friends that were super into it. So I'd done a little bit in Alaska and more fishing up there, and I really enjoyed it. And then I'd done, you know, a little bit in Maine and started in Montana. I had a couple friends, and we didn't. We didn't really. It was more just walking around in the woods. You know, we hadn't. We didn't really kill anything. But I got to go out with them some. Some friends from the gym, some friends that I knew from Alaska that lived here, and just kind of stars like that.

[Andy]

84% of hunting.

[Leah]

Yeah, just walking around looking for animals. And it was, you know, just got me outside again. I was starting to get real focused on the gym and had kind of lost that part of my life where I used to work outside and practically live outside when I was a ranger. So I just. It had kind of shifted things, so I. It provided an opportunity to get outside. You have to be super focused. You know, you're looking for sign. You're constantly looking for animals. So I love that part of it. You know, we've done some camping. Some camping adventures with Nelson. Super. Those were.

[Andy]

Is that what we're gonna call it?

[Leah]

Those were cool. I. I don't know. I mean, there's. I think it's always hard when you're gonna do elk hunting. Like, I've learned that now. You can't expect it. There's no part of it that's easy. Elk don't live in easy places. It's really challenging anyway.

[Andy]

And what do you do? What do you prepare yourself for mentally? If your guide says, we're just gonna go for A short hike.

[Leah]

Oh. If it's our guide from Utah, we're gonna be going down in the bottom of the deepest hollow of wherever we're at and we're going to chase that elk till we find it.

[Andy]

When the guide says it's going to be a short hike, strap in for 10 miles.

[Leah]

I took the conditioning so much more seriously for our second hunting trip this year. And we went to Wyoming and I felt a lot better. So I did the elk shape protocol and that was. I'm going to do it again because I felt a lot better. A lot of just rucking. We're already at a pretty good altitude here, but just more uphill. More kind of CrossFit style cardio. Just that short cardio. So when you can do a burst uphill and not feel like you're dying and just getting used to carrying weight, you know, I haven't had to knock on wood. I haven't done like a horrendous pack out yet, but I feel like it's coming at some point.

[Andy]

It's coming.

[Leah]

I've done some shorter ones and I know I can carry the weight. I just haven't had to do a really long one yet.

[Andy]

Did you enjoy the elk interactions in Utah last year?

[Leah]

That was absolutely incredible. Absolutely incredible. We were in a herd at one point, so I had sort of explored hunting with other people, but really gotten into it. Done a bunch of trips with Andy, which is just really cool to share that with your partner. I've gotten my own animals now, just a few. But it's. That's been really rewarding to be able to then eat those later in the year, to pack it out yourself, to clean it yourself and share that experience with friends, you know, And. And it's just. You have adventures, you know, it's. It's. It's really cool. So I definitely love it. I've gotten more and more into it. I want to try eventually to archery hunt. Just how close we got to some of the animals was really, really cool.

[Andy]

It's hard to describe those interactions.

[Leah]

Yeah. In Utah, and he was rifle hunting, but we were close enough where he could have arch archery hunted. It was.

[Andy]

I might have been able to hunt with ax. Yeah, that one bull that walked in and wanted to bugle but kind of knew something was off and just.

[Leah]

That was. We were just crouched down. I thought the thing was going to run us right over. And then two herds ran into each other and we were in the middle of them, just running through the woods all around us, just screaming. Yeah. It was crazy. It sounds prehistoric. So that was. That was just incredible. So that's just. Yeah, that's a really special place. But even just. Just walking around in Montana, I enjoy shed hunting. You know, I know you don't love that quite as much.

[Andy]

Can we just call it hiking?

[Leah]

You get figured out it's about five miles for every antler you find. But I love it. It's fun.

[Andy]

I haven't found that ratio to be true at all. I think I'm at 50 to 0. It's just a. Can we just tell me we're going fucking hiking? I'll go.

[Leah]

It's a purpose. But anyway. Yeah. So I guess to truly get into it. Yeah, definitely. Andy got me more into it and got. You know, we worked with some guides or friends that got us on animals and gave me the opportunity to get something. And sometimes with a film crew, which was super stressful because I haven't shot a lot long distance. I did better this year with all my prep. I just. I should have done more physical training, like, at least eight weeks before Utah. That was a huge mistake. But I won't make that again. Next time we're going, I'm going to be more ready. No, it's just. It's chasing around these guys. Everybody's like 6ft tall, some kind of extreme athlete in their life. And I'm just running after everyone. Like, it's just. It's ridiculous. I'm just. They have a shuffling.

[Andy]

They have a gear, Michael. And sometimes I think they look back, because if I was them, I would do exactly this. I would look back and, like, looks like you're suffering. Let's pick it up a notch and just absolutely waffle stomp somebody's dick into the dirt. Just break them physically and emotionally. And at some point in time, they might have to shoot, too.

[Leah]

It got to the point where I just had to recognize what your tracks look like to know where you went. Like, they were so far ahead. I was like, well, there's.

[Andy]

And we had Dove with us, who was in vans.

[Leah]

Huh? Dove was in vans, man. He. He bosses it up, though. He keeps up.

[Andy]

Hey, carry the elkhead out. It was awesome.

[Leah]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we didn't have to go far, but I don't think I could have put that on my back. That thing was heavy.

[Andy]

He's a big boy.

[Leah]

Yeah. Yep. So hoping to do more. Really looking forward to that season. And again, to take it seriously. It's not a weekend warrior kind of thing. It is the jiu jitsu fitness does not translate whatsoever to walking uphill. I have found.

[Andy]

Guess what's a really good way to spot for animals?

[Leah]

What?

[Andy]

Helicopter.

[Leah]

Yeah. You've got to wait, you know, 24 hours. You can't just helicopter around and then run after the animals. What is it? 24 hours?

[Andy]

24 hours, yeah.

[Leah]

Yeah, 24 hours. I mean, that would be cool to have somebody.

[Andy]

Yeah. Same if you use a drone.

[Leah]

Yeah. Yep.

[Andy]

So maybe to give you a rough idea.

[Leah]

Yeah, Some. Maybe some. Some more opportunities in Montana. We didn't really get to hunt Montana this past year.

[Andy]

No. Didn't even touch my tags.

[Leah]

Yeah. So next year.

[Andy]

This year. This year we need. In about two weeks, I'll start getting texts from Paul and Nelson because tags are due at the end of April, I think.

[Leah]

Yeah. Yeah. They're both such great ambassadors for.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Leah]

For the practice. For the.

[Andy]

Nelson just text. He just texts me all the numbers that I don't know, and I just put all this.

[Leah]

Those guys prep all year for that. It's. It's. It's cool. They've. They've really been influential in getting me into the sport, too. Really generous with their knowledge and time and gear.

[Andy]

Agreed. Hopefully Nelson's knee is good enough for it. Should be. It'll be a year.

[Leah]

He found ways to do it. I mean, he had an elk. I don't remember. It was a deer and a canoe, so he didn't have to walk. It was cool.

[Andy]

Well, he should be a year out because he twisted his leg. 180 out last hunting season.

[Leah]

180. Yeah.

[Andy]

Legit. 180. Yeah.

[Leah]

We're like, oh, his season's over. No, he managed to get some animals. It was cool.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Leah]

Determined.

[Michael]

All right. Do you follow a certain diet or eat a certain way? Do you train anything else besides jiu jitsu?

[Andy]

Is this for both of us?

[Michael]

I mean, I think it's for Leah, but you can both answer.

[Leah]

I do just basic barbell lifts. I've added some kind of crossfit style hit training macros. I'm just kind of higher protein right now and a little bit lower carb. And I'm just trying to track and be really consistent right now. And I do want to drop a weight class for the fall, which I've been saying for a couple years now. I'm actually. I actually did compete a couple times this year, so that was part of my goal. I may compete one more time, and I really want to drop down one, which has proved to be much more of a challenge in my 40s. Very difficult. So I'M going to have to approach it differently. I used to be able to just kind of clean up my diet. The way I'm eating now. I would have been losing weight in my 20s, and now that I'm 40, it's just like. I mean, I worked. I did a pretty hard training camp leading up to these last couple comps and was eating pretty clean. Scale didn't move, not even a half a pound. I was like, you have got to be kidding me. It's so frustrating. Great on top. Great on top. You know, if you're on top. But I feel like I should be one more down and I would feel a little more comfortable. So something to work on, but not a specific, you know, not Paleo or keto or anything like that. I would say just trying to stick to whole foods, avoiding processed foods. They do do some protein powder. Creatine now has been really helpful with recovery. And then just trying to make sure I'm getting enough protein. That has also seemed to help me recover because recovery is the part that is different now that I'm older and competing. But I'm really enjoying the Masters division. I think it's. It's super fun.

[Andy]

Cool.

[Michael]

All right. Cool. Does Leah speak sarcasm as fluently as Andy?

[Andy]

That I speak sarcasm?

[Leah]

Probably not as fluently. I don't know if anyone is quite there.

[Michael]

Technically possible.

[Leah]

I. I try to keep up because.

[Andy]

I don't find myself to be sarcastic.

[Leah]

No, not at all.

[Michael]

I've heard you built out some pretty good. I wouldn't say insults, but roast.

[Andy]

Yeah, I feel like. I feel like I might be a slightly negative influence.

[Leah]

That is true. I do find myself kind of repeating some of those phrases. And actually, when Tyler was. Tyler is a real sass pot, too.

[Andy]

He's got a mouth like a sailor right now.

[Leah]

He really does. College is man.

[Andy]

But every third word.

[Leah]

He's hilarious, though. So, yeah, I get some of it's from him, I think. Actually.

[Andy]

Do you want to hear some real talk? Sit in a room with Tyler and Julia at the same time.

[Leah]

Wow. They roast each other. They are so funny. They had me crying, laughing. One night. They went on for about 20 minutes just going at each other. Their boyfriend. Respective boyfriend or girlfriend. At the time, it was just. Yeah.

[Andy]

Tyler was saying nothing was safe. Your boyfriend doesn't even have a taint.

[Leah]

He said. I'm like, what does that mean?

[Andy]

None of us knew what it meant. But first off, what. Why did you even think or say that? But quite frankly, Julia had no response to that.

[Michael]

Yeah, I mean, there's no response.

[Andy]

Your boyfriend doesn't even have a taint.

[Michael]

I actually think I know where that is coming from.

[Leah]

I don't even want to know. I do. Yeah, I know.

[Andy]

Do tell.

[Michael]

So there's this like study recently that basically it was like the smaller your taint length, it basically means the less testosterone and more microplastics you have.

[Leah]

That seems like a Tyler.

[Andy]

Yeah, I was going to say, why do I know that? He has read. He has this probably printed out and highlighted somewhere.

[Michael]

Yeah. So I think that's where that comes from.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Yeah. All right. Leah, what is the best story Vaughn has told you about Andy?

[Leah]

I think Andy actually this is going.

[Andy]

To be the orange.

[Leah]

Yes. Have you told that on here before? No. It's so funny. So I think Andy told me. I once asked him. I do think he won the parent lottery. Vaughn is so awesome and I think he was such a great dad. I think he still is.

[Andy]

You would have loved my mom too.

[Leah]

She was great, great grandpa. And so I said, did he ever get really mad at you? Because everyone has a point. And he said, well, there was this one time he flushed an orange down the toilet at his home.

[Andy]

And before people ask, I don't know fucking why I flush the orange. I don't know why I was looking at a toilet and said, I think I know something that's the exact diameter of that hole in the bottom. Let me go get it out of the fruit bowl.

[Leah]

So Vaughn, being pretty handy, ripped the thing out of the.

[Andy]

Hold on, hold on. You're skipping a few steps.

[Leah]

Go ahead, you tell it then.

[Andy]

So I flushed it. Probably out of curiosity where it was gonna go.

[Leah]

Not far. Turns out.

[Andy]

So the toilet backed up.

[Michael]

That's weird.

[Andy]

Water starts coming out over the top. I go and tell my dad, hey, there's something wrong with the toilet. And I don't know what it is. I did not. I'll tell you when I disclose the orange portion of this. So he goes and gets the snake. Like the metal snake is like jamming this metal stake down the hoil. The hole in toilet. Nothing's coming out except probably little orange bits. I was like, weird. Never seen that before in my life. Water covering the bathroom floor at this.

[Leah]

Point, it has to be just stabbing through the orange.

[Andy]

Yeah, yeah. He unscrews the toilet from the floor, gets underneath, double arm. Boondock Saints carries this thing.

[Leah]

That's a good reference.

[Andy]

Have you ever watched Boondock Saints? No.

[Leah]

Now you have to, Michael. Now we have to.

[Andy]

Carries it out, puts it in the grass. Lays it on its side and is sitting there like, what in the fuck is wrong with this toilet? And that's when I told him.

[Leah]

You told him or did he make you reach in there? Didn't he find it?

[Andy]

No, I told him there might be an orange in there. And he just walked inside. He goes, fucking get it out.

[Leah]

There might be.

[Michael]

It's possible somehow an orange got down.

[Andy]

So I got a little hand in there and work the fucking orange out. And then. I mean, I couldn't have carried the toilet at that point. I think he reinstalled it and just went on with his day.

[Leah]

He didn't even address it, though. He wasn't. He wasn't like, what were you thinking? Or you have some kind of punishment? He's just like, we're just going to. We're just going to move on.

[Andy]

What's the point of asking somebody at that age what were you thinking?

[Leah]

Yeah, there's no. I mean, that would be more traditional. But like I said, I think he realized that he just wasn't worth it.

[Andy]

Yeah, like, who fucking cares what you were thinking? Don't put an orange in the toilet again. Yeah. And so went back and forth.

[Leah]

He's a good dad, you know, I mean, he didn't even rage out. He didn't curse you out. He didn't get grounded.

[Andy]

I think he just started laughing.

[Leah]

Yeah. I mean, it is hilarious. What were you thinking?

[Andy]

There was water all over the bathroom. He's just. He was like a fencer, just freaking. Ha ha ha.

[Leah]

Yeah, so that was pretty. That was a funny one. He did tell me he went out to watch Andy and part of buds. He did it a couple times.

[Andy]

He was there during Hell Week.

[Leah]

Hell Week. So he was in rough shape. And he said he.

[Andy]

As was everybody else in the class, by the way. For sure. Yeah.

[Leah]

How many were left at that point?

[Andy]

Let's see. 18 of US originals graduated, so at least that many, we probably lost somewhere between four to six people after Hell Week due to an injury roll. So 24 maybe.

[Leah]

Yeah. So he's watching him run by and you're what, 17, 18.

[Andy]

18 going on 19.

[Leah]

18. Yeah. So. And he was like 170 pounds.

[Andy]

150.

[Leah]

150, but six feet tall somehow. So just real thin running by. And he said he looked so rough, you know, he was like, so proud of him. But he said he looked so rough that he, like, threw up. He turned over and like, threw up in a trash can, like tearing up.

[Andy]

Yeah. Like, maybe don't come watch your kid go through Hell Week.

[Leah]

Yeah. And the instructors were really sweet. It sounded like they would talk to him a little bit.

[Andy]

They would. And then on, like, Thursday, we were playing. I vaguely remember this. We were playing soccer. And by that we were standing in the sun. Cause you're so. I didn't know how bad off you are as a student until I went back as an instructor. Monday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, you're grinding the shit out of the students. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you're trying to make sure they don't fucking die.

[Leah]

Makes sense. Yeah.

[Andy]

Because they're hallucinating. They haven't slept. They are getting calories, but they're dehydrated. They're like. They're losing weight. They're. They're completely chafed from top to tail from just the sand everywhere. And so as a student, you think you're running as fast as possible. You look like a fucking zombie. So they're like, we're going to play soccer. So we put like, we tipped a boat on its side on both end. And you're just like, standing there in the sun and like. Like the ball could hit you, and you're like. And you go. So you were playing soccer.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And I remember seeing my dad up on the berm. Because instructors are up there just drinking coffee, watching. They're literally you. You really decrease output as the week goes on because you'll kill them if you don't. You don't realize that as a student. And next thing you know, they're like, semen apprentice stomp. Come up here. And I'm just like. And I. I think my dad asked me, how you doing? And I looked at him like, how the. Does it look like I'm doing?

[Leah]

Sounds about right.

[Andy]

Yeah. And went back to class.

[Leah]

Yep. Well, he just.

[Andy]

But they secured us from Hell Week, so he was there when he wanted to see. When they secured us from Hell Week, I was able to give him a hug. You go through a very robust medical check, and then you are put. You have. There's like a brown T shirt waiting for you, a white T shirt you wear before Hell Week, brown T shirt you wear after, so they stencil your name on it. I think there was a Gatorade, big Gatorade, and a pizza sitting there waiting for you. And so you go through the medical check, you get that. And then you get sent to the barracks, and people are watching you sleep for about the first 24 hours.

[Leah]

Did you eat a whole pizza?

[Andy]

I have no recollection of either eating or drinking. You're. Wow, you're a zombie.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

I'm sure I probably ate some of it. But you just want to go to sleep.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And then what's crazy? I do remember this. You're so tired, you lay down and it almost feels like you can't sleep. And then you're like, in six hours has gone by.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And you really have to pee. And some people just, you know, didn't want to get up.

[Leah]

Yeah. Just the support, though. I remember he last Vaughn story, he showed up. You had a coach, I think a baseball coach, that he told Andy. I don't know why I got mad at you. I would guess that you were mouthing off as my.

[Andy]

No, he was being a dick to the team.

[Leah]

Okay.

[Andy]

And I told him he could take a long walk off a short cliff. What year were you, while fucking pounding cock down his mouth?

[Leah]

Okay. Like, not mouthing off at all. Yeah.

[Andy]

So no, he was treating the team like shit. And I basically called him on. I was like, why don't you go fuck yourself?

[Leah]

What grade were you in?

[Andy]

Probably a junior or senior.

[Leah]

Yeah. So you were a catcher.

[Andy]

Yep.

[Leah]

And so you left practice early.

[Andy]

Yeah, he. He was. This guy was treating the team like absolute shit. And I can't fucking stand bullies. I've never been able to. And nobody else will say anything.

[Leah]

And I had a couple stories like that too, where he just stepped up and at risk to his own career, health, you know, whatever he was trying to achieve. And just kind of was like, nope.

[Andy]

So. So I gave it right back to the coach, told him to go himself. And he was like, you're never gonna make it in the seals. I was like, just eat dick. And I went home. I'm like, that was like. I drove The Volkswagen Vanagon 4 speed manual transmission home furiously. Just.

[Leah]

Hard to peel out and something like that.

[Andy]

Oh, no. Maximum speed.

[Leah]

Assertive.

[Andy]

Yeah, maximum speed. 42.

[Leah]

But.

[Andy]

So I get home and my. I remember this. My dad was out on that back patio and he goes, what are you doing home early? I'm like, my baseball coach is a piece of. And he told me I was never going to make it as a seal. He goes, get in the car. So we get back in the same van again.

[Leah]

Was he driving or are you driving at this point?

[Andy]

He was a lot faster.

[Leah]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy]

He didn't say a word. On the way back to high school. We were living on. Let me see. We were not on Morrissey Boulevard at that time. We were on Trevithan. And did he lock the brakes up when we parked in the outfield you parked in the outfield, not like on the grass.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

The baseball, the way.

[Leah]

Got it. Got it.

[Andy]

The road fence and, like, the dugout and stuff was here, but you parked here. I don't think he locked it up. I don't want to oversell the story. He got out and made a beeline for that coach, and that coach was over by where they were doing bad impressions.

[Leah]

I'm trying to imagine this. Did he just have a giant mustache at that point?

[Andy]

I've never known my dad without a mustache. He had probably just a. Just a dick broom at that time.

[Leah]

It's a big dude.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Leah]

So the coach probably playing rugby at that point.

[Andy]

Oh, he'd been playing rugby for 30, 40 years. And coach saw him coming. He had a little bit of a purpose to his steps. The coach started walking at him, and they collided in the outfield.

[Leah]

Your dad knocked him down, didn't he?

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Leah]

What did he say to him?

[Andy]

Don't ever fucking talk to my son like that again.

[Leah]

Somehow you stayed on the team, though, after that. I figured that would have been it for.

[Andy]

Yeah, I started the next day. We had a game the next day. Well, I don't know if you know this. Nobody wants to play catcher because it fucking sucks.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

You're there, like, squatted over relatively often, getting hit squarely in the fucking balls.

[Leah]

Well, I mean, just the support, though, the, you know, just handled it. He didn't even talk to you about it, really? He's like, this is what we're gonna do.

[Andy]

Completely silent on the drive.

[Leah]

He's so mad. He's probably so mad. Yeah.

[Andy]

That guy's lucky he didn't take his head off.

[Leah]

Yeah, I laid him out. Just one shot. Or did they get in there?

[Andy]

They might have shoved him.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

There was definitely some verbal altercations. They played the radio game. My dad turned off his transmit button for a little bit. He was on receive only.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Yeah, I. I couldn't. There has been a few times in my life where somebody is talking like that and they think they can just get away from it, get away with it, and I don't care. I'll be the person that says something, and I don't give a fuck. Like, oh, no, I don't get to play baseball. Fuck you.

[Leah]

And honestly, I think you got it. I mean, he's like that. I think that's. That's awesome.

[Andy]

And had I not been able to play baseball again, I knew what classroom that guy was in, I would have gone in and just absolutely ran my dick around. Every fucking inside rim of the cup that he used in his own class.

[Leah]

Why do we need to do that? Why do we need to talk about dicks?

[Andy]

Because that's. I would have absolutely ruined his fucking life.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

From a slow, passive aggressive sense of whatever a 17 year old could do.

[Leah]

No, I realized Tyler's little like that too. Maybe to his detriment. Luckily, he's training some Jiu Jitsu and has done some striking because he will. He will also step up. And we kind of had the conversation with him. He got into it with a kid in the elevator and we're like, you got to be ready to back that up.

[Andy]

Elevator's a tough environment. There's no escape.

[Leah]

Yeah, the guy was mouthing, just being real mean to the. His girlfriend. So Tyler told him what he thought and we're like, dude, you got to be ready at that point.

[Andy]

Because I'm fine with him telling him what he thinks, but you better be fucking be ready for game time right after.

[Leah]

Yeah, I'm glad he's playing rugby now too, which is pretty cool. So. God, yeah. And Michael.

[Andy]

So is Michael.

[Leah]

Yes. I don't know if that's just the next iteration of Jiu Jitsu.

[Andy]

Any ladies out there who want to go watch rugby players? His shorts will be at a maximum of a 2 inch inseam. So he'll be out there playing rugby next tournament in Spokane. No big deal.

[Michael]

Yeah. So come on by the curly ginger.

[Andy]

Headed fuck running around.

[Michael]

I'm not cutting my hair.

[Andy]

Why would you be?

[Michael]

Very obvious. Yeah, yeah.

[Andy]

Well, she got.

[Michael]

All right, let's end it with this one. I'm gonna add on to it. So the original question is, what is the best thing you like about your husband? Andy.

[Andy]

Oh, God.

[Michael]

I'm gonna say, Andy, what's the best thing you like about Leah?

[Andy]

Okay.

[Leah]

If I guess. This may surprise people who don't know him, but I guess his kindness and empathy for others.

[Andy]

That's right, motherfuckers.

[Leah]

He really does take care of the people around him in a big way. And he will sacrifice his own well being, health, sleep, to make sure that the people he's taking care of are okay.

[Andy]

My answer is actually very similar. This is the first thing that attracted me to you, was just the way that your brain works. You have a. You have a capability. I've said this to you, that you have a capability for empathy that I wish that I had. I would snap on people long before you get to the place where you sternly look at them.

[Leah]

I mean, I feel like you're pretty patient too, especially with your kids.

[Andy]

People I like.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

I'm less patient with people that rub me the wrong way or want to be creepers.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

No, it was your brain. The way that your brain works, just the way that you treat people is exactly the same thing.

[Leah]

Yeah. I love you.

[Andy]

I love you too. What were you going to add on to that, Michael?

[Michael]

My add on was what does Andy like about Leah? Because the original question was just Leah to Andy.

[Andy]

Do you have any dating advice for Michael?

[Leah]

We've talked to. We've actually had some extensive conversations.

[Andy]

Well, okay. It's not working. So what else do you have?

[Leah]

No, it's more just not settling, that's all.

[Andy]

Yeah. Don't have buckles on your shoes.

[Leah]

What? I don't makes you a settler. It's not.

[Andy]

You ever seen that?

[Leah]

Yeah. I don't know where he got that. I think that's his own. No reference.

[Andy]

I heard Nelson say it one time.

[Leah]

Oh my God, this look like I.

[Andy]

Have buckles on my shoes. My response was exactly the same. First I looked at his shoes. I'm like, what the are you talking about? Because I'm not a settler. And I was like, son of a.

[Leah]

That is actually pretty good Nelsonism. Yeah. So. Well, just that just, you know, not if it doesn't feel right that it's worth waiting and finding that right person and not necessarily tolerating being treated as less than or in a way that you don't appreciate. And that happens a lot more when you're younger. People are just not quite ready to settle down and they're dating. So you have. And now there's this added electronic layer where people can ghost and start something and not finish it. And it's, it's, it's. It's a jungle. I could not have challenging.

[Andy]

I could not have done the online digital thing.

[Leah]

It's good and bad because you're. You can meet someone with the exact same interests, but that's assuming they're telling the truth. Very true. Michael's run into that. He's been catfished a time or two. So.

[Andy]

Have you ever catfished anyone?

[Michael]

No, because I'm honest.

[Andy]

What is your profile picture?

[Leah]

Hopefully it's him and Javi. Now. I told him he's really got to work that if he's dog sitting. Yeah, I feel like walk him all over town.

[Andy]

Yes. Up and down Main Street. What is the problem? We're going to be in bald face. He's already lined up. The weather should be great. What are we waiting for?

[Michael]

Yeah. Maybe I'll do that.

[Leah]

Wean parade.

[Michael]

We can parade.

[Andy]

I know that Leah has secretly purchased many outfits for him. I haven't seen. I've seen some of them.

[Leah]

I always show you. And I model.

[Andy]

I feel like there's a hidden cache somewhere. But she could share that with you and you could put him in an outfit.

[Michael]

Perfect. Good idea.

[Andy]

Black tie one day. Top hat. Another top hat.

[Michael]

That would be awesome.

[Andy]

I mean, people.

[Leah]

He should have a top.

[Michael]

Hannah, Cool.

[Andy]

At breakfast today. You joined us for breakfast. How many people came over? At least a half a dozen. Oh, we love your dog. All right.

[Leah]

Yeah. Well, something to work on. But yeah. No, that was my. That was my only advice. I think. I think until you find that person, it's worth moving on. Even though it's really hard and it can be very isolating and lonely, you know, for a while, but totally worth it. And I never would have said that before meeting Andy. I would have. I was just like, it's statistically improbable to find your perfect match. I was very pessimistic. I was. I considered myself a realist, but in retrospect, I was very pessimistic and maybe getting a little closed off as I got older, you know, had been a minute.

[Andy]

So now you're stuck.

[Leah]

Don't give up. Don't give up. Stuck.

[Andy]

Now you're stuck.

[Leah]

Best decision of my life.

[Andy]

I'm doing my best. Let's end it with. Talk about your seminar coming up in Costa Rica.

[Leah]

Yes. So I kind of a dream seminar for me personally, the one I would have wanted to go to. It's half Jiu Jitsu instruction. So I'll be teaching the Jiu Jitsu part and then half surfing lessons.

[Andy]

If you want to. Right.

[Leah]

If you want to. It's included in the cost of the camp and it's still really comparable to the other camps. It's kind of a steal deal. And if you use the code cleared hot. Just one word at least this next coming week, I think it'll be live.

[Andy]

Okay.

[Leah]

You can get a 200 discount, which makes it crazy cheap for. It's like four days of Jiu Jitsu and four surf sessions. Our surf sessions, the surf lessons are taught by an actual expert subject matter. Nacho. Nacho Ignacio. He's Jiu Jitsu black belt, really great instructor. He runs a lot of the classes at Hero bjj, which is a non profit that fully donates all of that money from the destination seminars like this one to their children's program. So they pick up these Kids that normally would not be able to do anything after school from their neighborhoods and bring them, they do Jiu Jitsu. It gives them uniforms, school supplies, you know, just that community piece again and kind of a. An extra place outside their own home where they have support and an activity. And it's just a really, really cool program. So if you're thinking about doing a seminar, it's a beautiful place. Great, great time to get out. It's going to be in May, so spring here is variable. You know, it's a good time. It can be kind of a windy, cold time too. So do you live in the north? Go down to Costa Rica, get some surfing in, get some Jiu Jitsu and, and just, it's just a, it's just a great time. There's great food there. The beaches are beautiful. There's all these excursions you can do. It's really family friendly. It's very safe. So you can find the link for that on herobjj.com I'll put it in.

[Andy]

The show notes too.

[Leah]

Yep. And it sounds like Andy's gonna post a link to that as well as the blog.

[Andy]

And bring your family, bring your significant other if you want to come. Tamarindo is super cool school. How many times have we been there? Six or seven.

[Leah]

Quite a few. We end up it's going there for the Jiu Jitsu seminars. I always surf as much as I can. I'm still so bad at it. It's so hard. I think it's way harder than Jiu Jitsu. I just haven't put nearly the hours in that I need to. But I love doing it and it gives you that same feeling of flow. It's really challenging. The area that we surf is very beginner friendly. Sandy bottom, really small waves. And again, the instructor is excellent. He's able to explain the pop up better than any other coach I've worked with. And he's super patient. He'll have other instructors on board to help for those that want to come out and surf. So it's going to be fun. We're probably going to do a roll down by the beach.

[Andy]

On the sand?

[Leah]

Not on the sand. They'll be in the grass near the beach. So sunset near the beach?

[Andy]

No, you should do it on the sand. And you can push your partner's head underwater if you want.

[Leah]

I feel like you've had enough sand and pushing people.

[Andy]

Oh, no, I'm playing top.

[Leah]

You don't feel like you'll be in the sand.

[Andy]

Yeah. Driving people's Head underwater. Okay. No, the reason I bring up Tamarindo, it's super family friendly. We've traveled many times down there with people, kids of all different ages. It's easy to get around. Like you said, there's a tourist aspect to it. The flight into. We don't fly into San Jose. Where do we fly into? It's Liberia. You could fly into San Jose. It's a much longer drive. I would go into Liberia. Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, we've been there enough times. We can go visit. I mean, we go down to Dan Hart's seminar every December. We can go visit him in Chicago anytime. But we go there because it's just such a cool place and the cause is so awesome.

[Leah]

Yep. And again, the money goes to that great cause. And the. The area around it is just incredible. I mean, it's a jungle. You're seeing monkeys climbing across power lines in the street. All kinds of different tropical birds. You can go out and go deep sea fishing. You can.

[Andy]

You know, we've toured catamarans. You can do sad horse rides.

[Leah]

There's horse rides on the beach. You could do that. I don't know if they're sad, but they're on the beach. And you could do.

[Andy]

You could get bird whistles or cocaine from the same guy, possibly.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Yeah. They really. The trinket salesmen really have a wide variety of fish.

[Leah]

They're working hard out there. Yeah. And then, yeah, we've been to. We've toured a coffee plantation, cacao plantation. That was really cool.

[Andy]

Waterfall.

[Leah]

Yep. Done a waterfall hike. So it's just. It's just so pretty. It's a. It's a really wild place still. It's still quite rural. Even though Tamarindo is definitely more of a city, more of a touristy place. They finally paved what we call the lawless intersection downtown. Yeah, I don't think so. It's getting more developed, I guess, but you can go just outside the city and then it's. There's no one, you know. And so if you rent a car, you can get out pretty easily. And then everything in town is. Is pretty close. So beautiful place. We keep going back. And an opportunity to do two really cool disciplines together. I mean, I love both. So cool.

[Andy]

What do you want to end it on? I think see again in a year in here?

[Leah]

I mean. Yeah, if we have. If we have something else to talk about. You looking forward to that, to that seminar and going back to. Back to Costa Rica. And I'll be teaching in Vancouver Washington at our gym, our Straight Blast gym there. The week before, like May 5, I believe, is that seminar. So if you're in the Northwest and close by, you could come train with me there and then if not, come down to Costa Rica.

[Andy]

Right on. Until next time.

[Leah]

Yeah.

[Andy]

All right, thanks.

[Leah]

Thanks. Thanks, Michael.

[Michael]

Yeah, Nobody thought marketing is hard, but.

[Leah]

I'll tell you a little secret.

[Michael]

It doesn't have to be.

[Andy]

Let me point something out.

[Michael]

You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great.

[Leah]

You love the host.

[Michael]

You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion.

[Andy]

And this is a podcast ad.

[Michael]

Did I get your attention?

[Andy]

You can reach great listeners like yourself.

[Michael]

With podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to Libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.