Overcoming Obstacles: Austin Monteiro's Journey from Construction to Ultra Running Inspiration Ep. #32

Summary

Podcast Summary: In The Mix with Marvin Joles

Episode #32: Overcoming Obstacles – Austin Monteiro’s Journey from Construction to Ultra Running Inspiration
Host: Marvin Joles
Guest: Austin Monteiro
Date: May 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the inspiring story of Austin Monteiro, whose journey threads through personal loss, physically demanding blue-collar work, adapting to neurological challenges from birth, and ultimately finding a place of belonging and purpose at First Form. Austin’s passion for ultra running and self-improvement weaves throughout as he discusses overcoming hardship, building mental resilience, the culture of First Form, and his preparations for an ambitious 100-mile ultra marathon. The conversation is practical, motivational, and deeply human—offering tangible lessons on discipline, mindset, and the power of believing in oneself.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Austin’s Background and Early Challenges

• Family and Moves
  • Austin, 27, describes himself as a “nomad,” having moved through multiple states trying to find purpose (04:04).
• Impact of Loss:
  • Lost his mother in 2020, which catalyzed his move to Idaho to be closer to family—a period marked by grief but also deeper family connection (04:18—05:35).
• Working-Class Roots:
  • Worked construction jobs, general labor, steel manufacturing (Nucor, one of North America’s largest steel producers) and fiber optic installation—highlighting a traditional work ethic and the physical toughness required (06:14—08:28).
  • Noted, “No matter what job I was doing…it felt like I always had a shovel in my hand” (08:07).

Introduction to Fitness and Ultra Running

• From Construction to Fitness:
  • Developed fitness habits post-high-school sports, struggling with consistency and nutrition at first (09:52–10:51).
  • Influence of workout partners and exposure to David Goggins (“dangerous” inspiration)—“I’ve always been drawn to people who tell you straight how it is.” (14:44–15:03)
• First 5K to Ultra Ambitions:
  • “Paying money to go run…was a total nerd thing to do…But it built into results and then I got into running more seriously.” (14:29–14:34)
  • Running as a physical and mental proving ground—“You have to willingly put yourself into hard challenges…It’s the way to make life easier on yourself: make it harder for yourself” (15:23).

Overcoming Neurological Obstacles

• Birth Condition:
  • Born with left frontal cystic gliosis (limited mobility on right side of body, limp, minimal ankle flexion). Doctors didn’t expect he’d walk or talk. (24:03–24:48)
  • “I wasn’t supposed to walk, talk…That’s an L to some but a W to me, because I wasn’t even supposed to walk.” (24:48)
• Perspective:
  • Does not view the condition negatively; instead reframes it as a source of unique strength and drive (70:50–71:33).
  • “Would I have this fire and desire to run 100 miles if I didn’t have these challenges? Probably not.” (71:05)

The Culture and Life at First Form

• Why First Form?
  • “Best decision I’ve ever made.” (02:19)
  • Characterized by support, internal discipline, and community—“The first thing anyone notices at First Form is the culture…It’s always fantastic. Every time I go, the culture is as good or better.” (02:47–02:53)
• Standards & Discipline:
  • Every small action is a deposit in your “internal discipline account”—from picking up trash to wiping the bathroom seat (28:37–29:25).
  • “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” (27:14)
• Brand as Identity:
  • Wearing or using First Form products becomes a source of pride and improved posture—“When you wear that logo…the way you carry yourself changes.” (32:33–32:46)
  • “We’re not just putting protein in a box. We’re giving tools to change lives.” (35:38–35:51)

Mindset, Motivation & Mental Toughness

• Deliberately Seeking Challenge:
  • “One of the greatest things anybody can do, because hard is relative.” (15:50)
  • Choosing hardship—through running or workouts—helps you mentally prepare for life’s unavoidable pain (17:16).
• Introspection through Physical Pursuit:
  • Prefers racing without headphones for introspection—“In today’s world, we never sit with things. It’s OK to be with your thoughts and think about stuff.” (19:17–19:41)
• Dopamine & Motivation (Discussion referencing Dr. Huberman):
  • Understanding how to regulate and reset dopamine responses by switching up stimuli during workouts (21:07–22:01).

Lessons from Endurance and Ultra Running

• Pushing Beyond Limits:
  • “How do you train for a 100-mile race?”—much of it is building the mental side, because your body won’t be “trained” for the full distance before race day (61:10–61:56).
  • “Physically, you can push your body for a day (sleep deprivation, pain), but mental training is 60/40 over physical” (54:23–60:10).
• Failures and Learnings:
  • First attempt at the 100-mile Shippey Ultra—unprepared (no crampons), lasted 50 miles: “Preparation was not there on my part. Fell about a dozen times…but I learned.” (50:20–52:00)
  • Decision-making during failure—knows the importance of not destroying his body when a finish is unachievable, in order to continue future pursuits (54:29–58:22).
• Building True Confidence:
  • “You don’t build confidence by shouting affirmations at yourself in the mirror…You build it by having stacks of undeniable evidence.” (66:44)

The Power of Belief and Action

• Belief Above All:
  • “Belief in yourself and belief in anything you want to do is the most powerful thing. But not just saying it…proving it to yourself through action.” (98:14–98:42)
• Legacy & Impact:
  • Wants to be known as someone who did the best he could with the time he had (40:06–40:19).
  • Most proud of “knowing I’m making an impact, inspiring others, being useful.” (82:51–83:37)
  • “Be the person you needed when you were young,” tying his own drive back to a desire to provide the support and leadership he once lacked (88:31–89:31).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Embracing Hardship:
  “The way to make life easier for yourself is to make it harder on yourself.” — Marvin Joles (15:23)
• On Perspective:
  “Would I have this drive if I was fully functioning? Probably not.” — Austin Monteiro (71:05)
• On Culture:
  “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” — Austin Monteiro (27:14)
• On Confidence:
  “You don’t build confidence by shouting affirmations…You build confidence by having an undeniable stack of evidence.” — Austin Monteiro citing Alex Hormozi (66:44)
• On Discipline:
  “Discipline is a skill you build every day—it can flee from you, it can grow, but you have to exercise it daily.” — Austin Monteiro (91:16)
• On Living Fully:
  “It’s being enthralled with life at every avenue, every opportunity, every single task.” — Austin Monteiro (40:44)
• On Belief:
  “If you have belief in yourself, it can truly change your life. It all started with belief that I could actually do this.” — Austin Monteiro (98:14, 99:17)
• On Leadership:
  “Leadership is not a title. Leadership is an identity you choose.” — Austin Monteiro (89:01)
• On Motivation:
  “It washes everything away…I don’t have to worry about what Tom, John, or Bud down the street said about me. I can just focus on what I need to do, who I need to become, and everything else will build and grow from that.” — Austin Monteiro (94:44)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• First Form Culture & Work (02:38–03:28, 25:33–36:01)
• Early Life, Family, Loss & Construction Jobs (04:00–08:28)
• Fitness Journey & Running Origins (09:52–14:34)
• Overcoming Birth Condition (24:03–24:48, 70:50–71:33)
• Mindset: Hardship, Introspection, Dopamine (15:15–23:02)
• Brand Impact—Living the First Form Standards (27:14–32:46)
• Ultra Running Details—Preparation, Failure, Comeback (48:47–66:10)
• Mindset, Legacy, Confidence (66:10–68:47)
• Discipline & Daily Habit Discussion (74:54–81:18, 91:16–94:46)
• Belief, Values, Advice (98:14–102:31)

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Closing Reflections & How to Follow Austin

• Advice to Listeners:
  “Belief in yourself is the most powerful thing. Build it with action; let that compound into every part of your life.”
• Follow Austin’s Journey:
  Instagram: @austin__monteiro (Austin double underscore Monteiro, spelled out at 103:34)
• Host’s Reflection:
  Marvin ties his own story to Austin’s, relating the power of self-leadership, discipline, and being the caretaker his younger self needed (85:59–89:31).

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Tone & Language

Throughout, the conversation is raw, open, and authentic. Marvin’s approach is practical and blue-collar, infused with wit and realness. Austin is humble but driven—clear-eyed about challenges, honest about setbacks, and focused on forward progress, not perfection.

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For listeners, this episode offers an honest map for how to shift from surviving to thriving—whether on the blacktop, in the gym, or in the more difficult stretches of life.

Transcript

[Austin Montero]

Today's episode of in the Mix is powered by Jobber.

[Podcast Announcer]

Welcome to in the Mix, paving the way to insight, education and entertainment in the asphalt industry. Your host, Marvin Joelz, a best of Web pavement award winner, knows the blacktop community and what it takes to win in this industry. Each episode, you'll hear real stories, expert insights, and road tested strategies from the people who make up the asphalt world and beyond. Whether you're paving parking lots, ceiling driveways, striping lines, or innovating asphalt tech, this is the podcast for pros who keep the industry rolling. Now here's Marvin.

[Marvin Joelz]

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of in the Mix. This one I set up a little bit ago, and it's not like St. Louis is real far away. We were kind of talking, talking about that yesterday that Eli and I went down for memorial workout, and it was closer from St. Louis to Nashville than it was from where we live in Wisconsin to St. Louis. So all this time Will's been like, hey, come to hq. I've been making excuse like, that's too far. And now there's like no legitimate excuse. Literally, if I don't go, he's gonna be like, dude, you're just being lazy. I didn't really realize this, but when we were at the workout, we were working out with you.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I didn't even know that.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And for some reason, of course, the Internet and all these platforms have a great way of listening into the world that we're in. And my phone started showing me people that are associated with first form. And kind of yours was kind of a hybrid because what I first noticed was your post with Ben Newman. So do me a favor real quick. Introduce yourself and tell us, like, what organization you're associated with.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So my name is Austin Montero. First and foremost, man. Truly grateful to be here.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

To come out here and experience everything we did last night. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Broadway.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So pretty wild, isn't it? Yeah. Crazy thing. I'm sure it's only crazier as the week progresses. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Monday night was pretty chill, so.

[Austin Montero]

But it's still cool experience. But I mean. Yeah. So my name is Austin Montero. I'm 27 years old and I work at first for. I've been there for the better part of, you know, going on three years in February. I was a legionnaire for about a year back in 2020. Yeah. But yeah, so I work at first one work in the warehouse, and it's the best decision I've ever made. I love being there.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Yeah. We were Talking a little bit about it yesterday. The first thing anybody notices, if they get to go to first form, is the culture.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's always a topic of conversation. I've been there now multiple times.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

The culture is the same, if not better, every time I go. And now that everybody seems to be hitting their stride there, obviously Form Energy is doing great and it seems like people are. That work there, are enjoying the experience of working there more.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So the content that, like, all the team members are putting out.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Is fantastic, Fun, enjoyable content. And then we get meaningful content and stuff as well that's coming out from there. So I can't imagine, like, what it's like to be in that 24 7. But that really wasn't always where you were, man. So.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You told me you used to live in beautiful tropical Idaho.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So tell us a little bit about awesome Ontario and. And Idaho. And. And it's just like where you came from, man, and what's going on.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So I. I moved to St. Louis from Idaho, and how I ended up moving there is because I have family ties there. I have an aunt and uncle that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, in St. Louis?

[Austin Montero]

No, in Idaho.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, in Idaho.

[Austin Montero]

In Idaho. So I ended up moving there because back in 2020, from where I moved there, I've. I've lived. I'm kind of a nomad of sorts. Sure. I've. I'm 27 years old. I think I've lived in five, six, seven.

[Marvin Joelz]

You're on your third life.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So lived, lived, lived in quite a few states, Moved around a lot for a variety of different reasons. Just trying to. Being a young kid, trying to figure out life, what he wants to do, who he wants to become.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because you're old now.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. 27. Yeah. Yes. It's not the years, it's the mileage.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's right.

[Austin Montero]

I got a lot. I got a lot on me. Fair enough. Yeah. So. But put more on. Yeah, put more on by the day, so. But yeah, man. So I ended up moving to Idaho after my mom had passed away back in 2020. One thing about my family as a whole, we're very big family people. Sure, we lean on each other every single day, but especially when times get hard when, you know, things come about. And thing about that situation is that, you know, I was. I'm still young, but I was. I was even younger back then, of course, and I had no kids. Nothing really tied me down. Nothing like kids. I still don't have kids. Nothing like that that I know of. Yeah. So But I didn't have anything holding me back from kind of going and experience because my, because my aunt and she's, she's, she's with my uncle and their family's phenomenal, but they just don't, to be totally honest, it's just not the same thing, you know. Of course they don't, they don't know. They didn't know my mom that well, you know, so it's hard for, you know, my, my aunt to lose her sister, just like it is for myself to lose my mom. So of course I just felt like I was in a great, quote, unquote, great position to be able to go and kind of live that life with her, that, that, you know, kind of go through all the emotions, do everything, be that strong pillar, build back all those different things. So kind of have. That's important. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

After trauma and tragedy.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. No, and it, and it definitely was, she was a huge pillar of our family. So it was, it was important for me, I felt, to kind of go and, you know, be there, you know, lean on her. And it was important for me to be there, but it was important for me to have her. We're very, very close. She doesn't have kids either. Okay. You know, the surrounding, you know, my, my uncle's family and every like you ask him, I'm kind of her son to an extent, like, sure takes very good care of me even to this day. And so, you know, we grew closer in that relationship. And you know, as that progressed, that's where I kind of, I moved into, you know, different. I've always been in, outside of first form. This is the first job that I've ever worked. Yeah. First forms. First job I've ever worked where I've been like in an air conditioned building on a day to day.

[Marvin Joelz]

What did you do before?

[Austin Montero]

I was in construction all my life. So like for the majority, whether it be just general labor, you know, digging holes, digging ditches, because that's what I figured because like the way I grew up, which I think is a lot of people can kind of relate to, is that you, you grow up especially in the school system where it's. You either go to school, you get a degree, or you go to the trades and figure that out. Like you're gonna have to break your back.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

To build a life which is, which is phenomenal. So like, which is a great place to do things. But you know, you, as you grow, you kind of learn that there's other areas get into. But so I just went to do that to really support my family. Like I was.

[Marvin Joelz]

What'd you do?

[Austin Montero]

I was. So I went.

[Marvin Joelz]

What was the company? It was just general.

[Austin Montero]

So when I worked in. When I worked in Idaho, I mean, I've done a little bit of everything, but when I worked in Idaho, I worked for a company called Nucor.

[Marvin Joelz]

Okay. What they do.

[Austin Montero]

So they're the. I don't want to misquote it, but I want to say they're, if not the biggest. One of the biggest steel manufacturers in North America.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, okay.

[Austin Montero]

Fortune 500 companies. Oh, yeah. So it's very. Was a very big. It stands for. It stands. We. There's a joke out there where Nucor stands for nephews, uncles, cousins and other relatives. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Everybody's working that tight knit.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

And so my, My uncle's. I don't even know if they're actually related, but, you know, everybody's got their uncle, aunt, uncle. They're slant family members.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

Aren't actually family members. But he. He got me a job out there and I ended up working out there and I, I really enjoyed it.

[Marvin Joelz]

What'd you do?

[Austin Montero]

I saw. I was in what's called the melt shop. So in the melt shop, what you do is you work around, you know, 100,000 degree furnaces.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's like asphalt.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So it's. It's very, very hot. No matter what time of year it is. It's very. You got to wear the whole ppe.

[Marvin Joelz]

The f. Literally like no air conditioning would have been better. Like, even if you upgraded to a job where you were inside with no air conditioning, it would have felt like it 100.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So we did that for a while. I did that for, you know, about a year and.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Then where'd you dig holes? What was that?

[Austin Montero]

That was. So I've dug holes. I mean, really, just at any, at any point in my life, it felt like I always had a shovel in my hand, you know, no matter what job I was doing. But we're. Before the new core gig, I worked for a fiber optic company.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, heck, yeah.

[Austin Montero]

Big. That was digging, training.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's huge. Right now.

[Austin Montero]

Ditch. Which is. Yeah. All that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, dude, they're ditch. Witching everything.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So I got a buddy that sits on the machine that has the horizontal drill, goes underneath roads and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got that mouse. You know what I mean?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

That goes cheap, cheap, cheap.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Goes through. That thing's the coolest dang thing to see it pop through some sand here.

[Austin Montero]

Whoa.

[Marvin Joelz]

What are we doing as humans and people do this stuff. But yeah, that's a big dude. It's just this thing where you get people that are like, all right, like you said, they either go get a degree and go pursue a quote unquote, something professional or whatever it is, or they find their way into a trade and you can get. I mean, you can go to college for a trade nowadays, but also if you show up and you're. Especially nowadays, if you show up every day on time with being teachable.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You literally have a career for your whole entire life in the construction world.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right. So it's just one of those things and not just like making ends meet. You can, like, build a pretty good life still on the construction. There's. They're paying good money nowadays, dude, for people to really show up. So that's pretty wild. So then what happens, like after you're like, you know, you're in construction and then you're living in Idaho, and then all of a sudden what happens where your focus and attention starts to shift to where you're being guided towards the heart of America, underneath the arch.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, man. So really what it came down to is just getting into fitness. You know, growing up in high school and, you know, grade school and all those different things that, like most kids, I was always pretty active, playing sports was huge into baseball as, you know, high school age came about. Like, I dabbled in the other sports, was never really good. But then as high school came about, I kind of just stuck to baseball and loved that. And then you get out of that. You get out of that routine, you know, and like most people do, you. You start to, you know, lose the good habits and the routine.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, you start doing the grown up.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, you started doing grown up stuff and. Yeah, different things. So I got into, like, legitimate, like, weightlifting and, you know, strength training and different things. And again, most people in their journey I had gotten into where I would work out pretty regular basis. My diet was, you know, I wouldn't really track what I would eat, I wouldn't do. I wouldn't pay attention or whatever the case may be. But, you know, it was in that point where I didn't know any better.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, you didn't really have to do it before.

[Austin Montero]

And something was better than nothing. I don't really like that saying. But, you know, at that point I was doing. That's. I feel like that's just the path that people take. Yeah, Most people, they don't have every peg locked away. Sure. They kind of. They learn one thing at a Time, just like anything in life, learned that. And then as I was kind of working out, I didn't. And because that's. I want to point that out too is before I started working at Nucor, I had moved to Idaho and I'd gotten a job with. In like the furniture restoration business with a company called Furniture Medic. It's ran by a. Really.

[Marvin Joelz]

How many careers have you had?

[Austin Montero]

I know, man. I've always.

[Marvin Joelz]

I was just joking about the three lifetimes.

[Austin Montero]

It's been a. It's been a. It's been a life, man. It's been a. Been a weird life for. For many different reasons.

[Marvin Joelz]

Well, that's good.

[Austin Montero]

I believe. Yeah, I believe everything.

[Marvin Joelz]

This is diverse. I don't know if it's weird.

[Austin Montero]

It's diverse. You can lead to where you're.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's right to be.

[Austin Montero]

But. Yeah. So I. And that company, it was owned by a good buddy of mine named Josh Stump. Still one of the greatest people I've ever.

[Marvin Joelz]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

What was the guy's name?

[Austin Montero]

Josh Stump.

[Marvin Joelz]

Stump.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. S T U M P P. So

[Marvin Joelz]

he owns a furniture store.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Made out of wood.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

His last name is Stump.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, that's. And it's funny, man. We made all the same jokes. Yeah. So it Very, very attraction and law of attraction.

[Marvin Joelz]

And that doesn't sound like a guy that's going to branch out very far into something else.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So, I mean, and he's doing well with it, so. But yeah, so I started working with him because it was easy to get a job with him.

[Marvin Joelz]

I said, he's not going to branch out into something else.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it now. I got it now. Okay. Yeah, that's.

[Marvin Joelz]

All right, guys, let's talk about something that makes a real difference before the job even starts.

[Austin Montero]

Prep work.

[Marvin Joelz]

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[Austin Montero]

So I'd gotten that job with him and with me kind of working out, you know, kind of going off of the. The first form. Core value of leading by example. Yeah. You know, and by no means was he, like, just 100 pounds overweight of shape. Like, he just wanted to, you know, see me go to the gym. He got into where he wanted to live a little bit of a healthier lifestyle. Sure. Care of his house a little bit more. So we kind of got to the point where we would go to the gym together. We would. Oh, cool. One or two, three times a week, we'd very. Go to the gym. And then that built into, you know, talking about the results that he was. We were seeing all these different things. And then I got into run. Then we. I started making this joke about how, like, I thought it would be funny if we were to sign up for, like, a 5K, you know, because to me back then, that was 2021. To me, signing up for a race and paying money to go run was for one, something I'd never done before. But two was something that, like, super duper, like Partridge Family. The people that go to Disney World and wear the matching T shirts and take.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Everybody takes pictures together.

[Austin Montero]

That was like, a total nerd thing to do. Okay. So, like, I thought it would just be funny to go and do that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

And so we made that decision to go do it. And then two days before. And mind you, I started getting into David Goggins. He had introduced me through the journey.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's dangerous.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. He had introduced me to David Goggins.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's dangerous. You're about to become obese.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Through all this, because I've always been drawn, you know, with my family dynamic, you know, growing up without a dad. I think that has a lot to do with. With the mindset that I have, because I've always been drawn to people who tell you straight how it is.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

These. These types of guys. The Goggins, the Andes.

[Marvin Joelz]

No. Fluff.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. The.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Life's not fluff.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

For people who grow up rough, life's not fluff.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's not like we have to learn that life is hard like you. You pretty much grow up knowing life is hard and then you figure out how to make it easier on yourself.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Which ironically, you and I were talking about last night means harder challenges. It literally is like the way to make life easier for yourself is to make it harder on yourself.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But you just can't let it beat you. You're making it harder to overcome a challenge.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, because I think you have to willingly put. Because one of the greatest things anybody can do, and I believe it's because heart is relative.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

It's my heart. Oh, yeah. For sure.

[Marvin Joelz]

We say this a thousand percent. There's. Nikki was in an accident this past week.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

She was, like, freaking out. Now, for somebody who's never been in an accident, them spilling their morning coffee.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. The worst thing to ever happen to you. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it's some of the hardest thing for you. Somebody else has had something that's probably for you, super light.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But it's the hardest thing to happen to them. And you both are going to be like, life sucks.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Which is crazy.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But I think once you figure that out, you're kind of on the other side of the boat and you're like, like you just said, hard is relative.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

This is where living the three lifetimes by the time you're 27 starts to come in handy.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right.

[Austin Montero]

No, and I. That's why I. I believe everything in life that happens to you and as. As hard as it is to look at it, maybe in the moment. Yeah. Is truly a blessing. And it's. And it's. And it's looking at that. Looking at that perspective of what is this trying to teach me? You know, when you're in a hard thing, when you're in a. A point in your life where, you know, difficulty strikes, whether it be physical, financial, relational, whatever the case may be, it's always about not playing the poor me card. And, you know, why. Why does this happen? But it's. What is this trying to teach me and how can I utilize this thing to put me in an avenue to grow. To grow down the path.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's happening for you not to.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

And I think that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Which is hard when it's something difficult.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And I think what. I think what helps, and it can help anybody of any age, of any gender, whatever the case may be, is doing putting your. Because life is going to be hard. We can't avoid, you know, life changing. Hard, difficult. We can put ourselves inside of hard, difficult situations. And for the Most part, what I've identified. The easiest way to enter the pain cave, as I like to call it, is through physical.

[Marvin Joelz]

We have physical challenges.

[Austin Montero]

Hard workouts. Yeah. Different things. It's the easiest avenue that you can. You can, you can go out and put yourself.

[Marvin Joelz]

Spend all your money once.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

To spend all your money one time. Yeah. Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

Then.

[Marvin Joelz]

Then figure out how you're going to make rent. Yeah. That's pretty difficult. I don't recommend that route. I recommend just going and lifting some heavyweight.

[Austin Montero]

So it's something that anybody can do because you. Putting yourself and you. Everything comes from intention, you know, utilizing that intentionality of. Okay. I'm going to go into this workout with the. Knowing that it's going to be difficult. Knowing that it's going to be hard, but I'm going to win. It sucks. I made the post kind of about this the other day with doing. I mean, we did 100. We did a workout that was. I think it was like five, six rounds. It was totaled. 150 burpees.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

The entire workout. Yeah. And it was, you know, what is that internal dialogue that you have?

[Marvin Joelz]

You know, are you.

[Austin Montero]

Are you just sitting and you're. This sucks. I don't want to be here because I think a lot of people.

[Marvin Joelz]

I've seen you all do a workout with no sound or something here. A while back I seen. When it was like in the quiet.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Because it's. And it's. And it's nice because I had like

[Marvin Joelz]

a six or eight hour workout or something.

[Austin Montero]

No. So when I run, when I run these races, I do it.

[Marvin Joelz]

Which we haven't talked about yet.

[Austin Montero]

I do it with no headphones.

[Marvin Joelz]

But you're far from a 5k now, so.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So. So you do it without headphones for the purpose of what?

[Austin Montero]

Just because I. I feel like in today's world, which I am, I am somebody. I mean, who I love. I. I very much. I enjoy social media. I enjoy, you know, listening to podcasts or all of this stuff because. And I truly believe that it is. It can be a very fruitful thing.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Can be productive.

[Austin Montero]

Grow and build in your life. But we're just constantly inundated with things coming at us. Sure. We never. Especially nowadays, more than if you go back 50, 60 years ago.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

You know, the ability to take your mind off of things and it's okay. And it's okay to sit with things. You know, and it's perfectly okay to think about stuff.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

You know, and that doesn't happen.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right.

[Austin Montero]

So, you know you and you don't. I believe more there's. There's a lot of people nowadays that truly don't know who they are, you know, and.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, I would say the majority of the population don't even.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So it's. And it's putting yourself, 95% of people putting yourself in situations like that, which it doesn't have to be a 10 hour workout. You know, again, hard is relative. So for some people, it's walking outside without their phone.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

For 10 minutes.

[Marvin Joelz]

Okay.

[Austin Montero]

It's seeing that. And it just teaches you a lot. You know, you learn about who are you as a person.

[Marvin Joelz]

One thing I've noticed. Oh, it definitely does teach you a lot because you're forced to be with yourself, be introspective.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because who else are you going to talk to?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You know, there's not very many people out there. And you're not just going to be blank in the mind running around. Right. So I think the other thing is that it probably has. I've geeked out quite a few times about dopamine.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And how I believe pretty much anything we do in the world that we do with somewhat of an ambition is for dopamine release.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Even if you're like, hey, I want to try to run 26 miles. When you get done, you're gonna be like, yes, that's a dopamine release. Right.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

The. One of the craziest things I heard Huberman talk about one time was how we set the plateau for our dopamine and how it could be something as simple as listening to music.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Or this type of music. So, like during our workout, if we're listening to like Slipknot and it's like wide open and we're lifting weights and we've done two shots pre workout, whatever our dopamine level is here. And if you are going to try to increase that and be like working out and your body is already almost in peak physical condition. I have no idea what that would look like.

[Austin Montero]

Right.

[Marvin Joelz]

But what else are you going to do?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So his recommendation is like regress, like listen to classical music instead.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And then take your earbuds out and then lay off the pre workout for a while. And then once you like, start just absolutely begrudging it.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Put the classical earbuds back in, Go until you're like, this is lame. Then take a shot of pre. And then if that gets plateaued, then turn on Slipknot. And then.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Like literally you ride yourself up and down this wave of Dopamine.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

To kind of help keep you motivated and whatnot. Which is obviously way different than taking your earbuds out so you can be introspective.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Which is what I do quite a bit when I'm driving, especially. I was telling you about today in the Nashville traffic, dude. Plenty of time if you leave everything off. Plenty of time to think. I pretty much have to do that in order to not get road rage.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

I'm like, dude, you have to remember, gotta calm down. Yeah. Dude, you're a zen human being. We don't. We don't participate in this. So back to the topic of it. You. You said you were talking about social media. That's where I happened to see one of your posts with Ben Newman.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

After we were at first form for the workout, I did the walking, running side, kind of. Eli did the complete middle of it. And, dude, he loved it because he was, like, with people that looked like him, was totally into what he was into. On the fitness side, my part of it, I got to hang out with Andy again, which still blows my mind.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But that's more. My side is the entrepreneur side and everything else, which I know they go hand in hand.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And when I seen the Ben Newman post, that's really where I was like, oh, I've seen Austin before. Yeah. I was like, oh, I see that first form. Then I reached out and you were like, what the heck do you want to talk to me for? Right. And there was the Ben Newman post because we've talked about you working out, you running, you digging ditches, doing all these things. But I think people, if they're listening in their mind, they're probably being like, oh, Austin looks like this.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But that's not the case. Yeah. Before you were in here, we had one of my buddies, Jake, like, went to shake your hand. You're like, hey, I can't shake that, dude. We gotta shake the other hand.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Tell us a little bit about what happened and why. Why you look different than what people would expect in their mind when you're working out or running or doing anything.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So essentially what happened is when I was born, I essentially had a stroke within the womb. And I say essentially because the. What the doctor said is the symptoms that I had are most common found in. In victims that. Stroke victims. So.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So I have a condition called left frontal cystic gliosis. I didn't get enough, which, if I understand correctly, I didn't get enough water and blood to my brain. So born very Premature. Didn't. Didn't fully develop. So I have a very limited mobility in the right side of my body. I don't have any flexion in my right ankle, my arms a little bit. My motor skills are a little bit off. I mean, my motor skills are literally all even connected. So, like, it's. It's a different thing. So I move a little bit differently. I. I have a limp. When I walk, I. I do these things. But I mean, all that to say I wasn't supposed to walk. Talk, you know, Doctor.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. You come out.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Doctors had.

[Marvin Joelz]

This is what we're talking about. Sometimes when you look at it, when someone's like, oh, dang, that, that's L. And you're like, well, no, that's a W. I wasn't even supposed to walk.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And, you know, we haven't got to it yet, but you have a huge ambition coming up in January. Yeah, we'll talk about that a little bit. But I think put into perspective the challenge versus what my body does, what my body is right. I, dude, I fight like heck to keep weight off.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Body is like. I feel like if we could see what my metabol, My metabolism was, it would be a molasses tree or somebody poke a hole and that molass. This is like slowly moving. So we all have challenges. I get that. But you literally are going to be trying to just slap this one right in the face, like what you were, how you were born. You're like, nah, yeah, we're gonna go ahead and knock this one in the dirt. So before we get there, let's talk a little bit more about first form.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

If you're a subcontractor in the asphalt industry, you already know the deal. Slow pay, no communication, scopes that change and getting squeezed on price after the job's done. Paeco national is different because they didn't start as a national company. They used to self perform. They've been in the field, they've run crews, they dealt with the exact frustrations you deal with when working for other nationals. They built Papeco to be the company they wish they could have worked with. That means clear communication, fair contracts, and no games. They don't treat subs like placeholders. They treat them like partners because they've been on your side of the contract before. If you're ready to work with a national contractor that actually understands and respects your business, reach out to Paveco national, email [e-mail] or call 866Pavement Paveco National. Making your life smoother. I feel super fortunate to have guys like Austin will and be able to be invited to be immersed in that culture from time to time.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's unmatched. And I've been around a lot of companies and been a lot of places. It's unmatched at first form.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

What the heck is that all about?

[Austin Montero]

If I could sum it up in, in my perspective and why I wanted to be there and why I enjoyed it. It's just a bunch of good people that want more out of their lives and are willing to do what it takes to get that and they want to help other people get that too, above all, you know, and that's such

[Marvin Joelz]

a level of respect for the place.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And I, I think that's just for me personally, growing up, I was.

[Marvin Joelz]

Why is that though? Why is there such a respect for the place?

[Austin Montero]

Because I think it all comes down to the little things. You know, we have a saying, and I think it's coined huge Alabama football fan roll. Todd Nick Saban. Nick Saban has a quote, you know, he says, how you do one thing is how you do everything. And I believe that as I've grown in my journey of, you know, becoming a better human being because I wasn't always a. I'm still not the greatest human being ever, but I mean, I was nowhere near. I've made strides, sure, over the years, but, you know, you, you learn that, you know, how you keep your car clean, you know, and how your house looks, how your apartment looks, whatever. And it doesn't have to be this. And something that is monumental for. What was monumental for me to understand is that you don't have to live in a five million dollar home to take care of your things. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So I get that. It's. I understand that it's not just the first form building. Right. I imagine that you all have a great admiration for that place.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And what it's done and represents in your life.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But we were walking on a side street in downtown Nashville last night in Broadway, and you reached down and picked up a wrapper off the ground that God only knows what could have been in there. Right. Like, I don't know if like I was like, this is the first form thing or it's complete inexperience because God only knows what could have been in there, poked in the hand or did whatever. Yeah. Just like you're like, immediately that was your fast twitch.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Just like, oh, I'm grabbing that off the ground.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Thank God. That was a street we went down because two more over on like 6 or 7th Street. I would have had to leave you there picking up garbage. Dude. They probably. Nashville probably would have came by and then like, you know, give me a vest that said city in Nashville.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And I think to kind of bounce off that point, it's just. It's understanding and truly buying into the fact of something Andy always talks about, which I've tried to beat into my brain for, you know, the few years that I've been around the company is everything is a withdrawal or deposit inside of your internal discipline. You know, walking by a piece of trash on the ground, whether it's yours or whether it's not, you know, you didn't make the mesh. You have the opportunity to clean it up.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

And walking past a piece of trash, you know, wiping. Wiping your toilet seat after you. After you use the restroom.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

Little things like that.

[Marvin Joelz]

I didn't even want to go to the bathroom at first.

[Austin Montero]

It's never been used.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. I was like, man, I'm gonna about to desecrate this thing.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. One thing that. That did. We were fortunate enough to come there with Buildwit for a workshop. And one thing I noticed, and I've been around, we had a good group of guys go to that one. One thing I know, and I've been around these guys forever. So we totally partied in Nashville and Charlotte and did all these things. Been in hotel rooms together, did all this stuff. It almost immediately shifted how they carried themselves there.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

No one even had to say anything. The culture literally was like a wave. They just went, yeah. And took over everybody.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And me on the outside, I was looking at like, whoa, this is a huge thing. This is a big thing. And I think that people always talk about brand building. Right. First form has done an excellent job of selling a product and their brand and standards coming with it. Right. Like when I'm. When we get first form energy drinks, or dude, we've been making perform protein in the Ninja Creamy, Will Grumpki keeps crossing recipes.

[Austin Montero]

He's the king of that, dude.

[Marvin Joelz]

And now Eli's like, all about it. When Eli's. What's crazy, dude? When he wears first form, when he's wrestling or if he's eating First Form, I watch him carry himself different, which is the craziest thing. Dude.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Reminds me of like some iconic brands like Louis Vuitton or whatever, where people put it on. All of a sudden, dude. They're feel like they're in Dubai a million Bucks. Yeah, dude.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And we're not in Dubai. We were in Cleveland. Right. But it makes them feel that way.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

What a crazy accomplishment for a brand to do, especially a product, fitness, lifestyle thing.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Well, and the thing is, and while we appreciate it, I think the majority of, of if not all of us would say, you know, it's. Well, yes, we, we work in the building, we do this stuff. It's the people that choose to represent the brand, that choose that's a choice to pay, to pay my bills, to all these different things that, that are doing that. It's that type of. It's that type of mentality and that type of intention.

[Marvin Joelz]

Is that why you all are like so intentional towards the customers?

[Austin Montero]

Well, yeah, because every time I order

[Marvin Joelz]

something, somebody gives me a handwritten note.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, well, we understand that at the end of the day that, I mean, without you guys, we're nothing. And like, it's not this thing where it's, you know, first form the brand and then the custom, the people that buy our products.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

One community all standing for something. And I think that to, to summarize that in two points, it's one, it's understanding that we stand for something bigger. Yeah. That's why you walk around with that when you wear that logo on your chest when, you know, people recognize in the grocery store, even if nobody knows what it is that you're wearing. You know, that's why you walk around a little bit more. But yeah, stand a little bit straighters because you understand what that logo on

[Marvin Joelz]

your chest, just a crazy experience to experience that through a brand. Yeah. I think what we feel on the product as the customer side is that first form is with us. Like we're not. If we're buying a product. And this is a, this sounds like a huge first form hype, but totally. If we weren't and then you and I just went there and interviewed everybody and then came back, we would be having the same conversation.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's like the products that get sold at first form, I would imagine all of them are with the intent of going to a customer who's looking to improve their life.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Or maintain a high level of self improvement in their life. Right. Or pride in what they've accomplished or what they're doing. So to have a company make it feel like, hey, we're with you.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And not just like say, hey, we're with you. We're gonna develop an app and then we're gonna give you personal accountability trainer

[Austin Montero]

to real people in the app.

[Marvin Joelz]

And then you can go to first form and see that person, or you can follow them on Instagram and see that person.

[Austin Montero]

The same person.

[Marvin Joelz]

And it's the same person.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Immediately. I'm not just buying an energy drink. I'm not just buying my M Factor.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Vitamin. I can get a dude. I could go to name X store and get any selection of vitamins.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

But I'm not buying the. If M Factor's sitting there between X Brand. X Brand. X Brand. This is not even in the same category with those. Because it's so much more with it

[Austin Montero]

before you even look at the label.

[Marvin Joelz]

Before you even look at the label.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Just by looking at a logo.

[Austin Montero]

Facts.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Yeah. If you know the brand, what it represents, even if the price is up a little bit or there's a little bit of difference, you're paying for so much more or you're receiving so much more. And that's such a crazy thing. Especially when I get to be around. When I get to be around Andy and Sal and the team and they're just like, dude, they're dudes. My kid was at first form when we all did the workout. Sal's kids were at first form. Like, we're all just people. So I feel like it's such a. A crazy thing for me to be there, see what's going on with the culture, see what goes to the brand and realize these two dudes that played football, like I played football realize something that has been a super huge key to their success. And that's literally just like doing what naturally we should do as humans.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And be in it together.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And that's the thing. And I mean, I think you can. You can probably align it to any industry, any area of life, but especially in the fitness side of things. Anybody who's taken part in a fitness journey started a fitness journey. It's just very scary. It's a very monumental. At least in your life, change to big things. You know, it's a scary. I mean, everybody's worried about.

[Marvin Joelz]

Everybody wants to be comfortable.

[Austin Montero]

Everybody wants to be comfortable. And everybody goes to the gym worried about what? Everybody's scared out of their mind to go to the gym.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

What's people going to think about? And they don't know how to use the machines. So for us, and like I said all the time to the guys that I work with is, you know, we're not just putting protein in a box. You know, we're giving somebody the tools that they need to not only change

[Marvin Joelz]

their own lives, Giving them motivation.

[Austin Montero]

But be the best dad that they can be. Be the best mom that they can be.

[Marvin Joelz]

Self improvement.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So it's, it's so much more for

[Marvin Joelz]

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[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Not just your fitness status. Right. So I think that there's just this big connection. It always feels good to have somebody on your side legitimately.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And the culture of the team and everything there at first forms just

[Austin Montero]

the

[Marvin Joelz]

ambition of being world class and then watching it actually happen.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And it's not like when you hear Sal speak, which we have at Dirt World Summit fantastically now a couple times and back. First form. It's not like they know that first form kicks ass in that category. Yeah, they totally do. But that's because they've been intentional about being that type of company and not just like saying, hey, we need to be this. It's literally been we as individuals need to be these type of people or we're not going to be the type of support or brand that actually is truthful.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

About the products they sell. And then we've been able to see that and change in the world. And now we see. We were talking about JJ how and yeah, dude, totally. But to see him walk in to the locker room and see his stuff and watch that have such a huge emotional effect on him.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

For me, that has been one of the pieces of content that I've seen this year that had a huge effect on me because I'm just like, that is the brand. That's a guy that feels like he's at home and he has support backing and people have witnessed what he's been through, and they're super proud of you. And it's just. What a crazy feeling to have to look at a locker full of merch and to feel like this brand gets me and is a. Proud of me.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

What a wild thing.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Today. So that ambition, that culture and everything has had a profound effect on you. And I know this because you have a huge ambition coming up. How do you describe what you do?

[Austin Montero]

I run really fucking far.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Austin Montero]

But no, I mean, the political. The legitimate term is I'm an ultra runner, you know, and an ultra marathon is anything over the 20.

[Marvin Joelz]

What's your. What's your gig? What's your. What's your. If you were like, this is my main thing that I do, and this is the second thing that I do when it comes to working in the warehouse or an ultra runner. What's your. What's the one where you. Like, this is who I am. This is what I do.

[Austin Montero]

I don't. That's all. It's kind of a hard question to answer, man, because, like, I don't know what I want to define me. You know, the biggest thing. It's kind of like we were.

[Marvin Joelz]

Answer.

[Austin Montero]

Well, it's kind of like a good answer. Well, it's because, you know, I. I believe that people should define themselves on. On things that think that. That life.

[Marvin Joelz]

So if you don't. If you don't have those two things, and I was just. And if I was just like, what do you do, Austin? What would you tell me?

[Austin Montero]

I'm just a. I mean, I'm a. I mean, I work at first form. I mean, but in the. In the real world, I. I work at first form, and I run. I run really far. But I mean, intrinsically.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

If we were To. Which I. I feel like this is. If we were to have a legitimate. Real conversation about it is I want my life to be remembered, you know, when I'm. When I'm put in the ground, I want to be known as somebody who did the best they could with the time they had here.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

And whatever that is.

[Marvin Joelz]

That was a huge point we talked about last night.

[Austin Montero]

That's. And that. That is. And it's being useful and it's. You know, it's. It's connecting. It's. And it's. It's, you know, and it's to. To take this situation in this scenario in totality. It's you knowing that I'm here with you right now.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

It's, you know, that my brain isn't somewhere else. I mean, my phone's face down on the table. You know, we're, we're sitting here having a conversation.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

I'm fully, and I'm here with you and I'm connecting with you. And I'm gonna leave here and then I'm gonna, I'm gonna drive, I'm gonna drive back to St. Louis and, but have another opportunity to do that. You know, it's looking at life as living life. Yes, we're actually living life. It's truly being enthralled in it at every, at every avenue, with every single opportunity, with every single task, with every single thing that you do. And it's because, it's because that's going to change, you know, like the things that you do in life, the physical things that you could touch, feel, you know, I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be a warehouse worker at first. I'm going to be at first form. God willing, I'll be at first form till they die. I mean, I've literally said it in a Monday meeting before in front of Sal and Andy. Like, my hope is that I die and then you guys bury me under the, underneath the, the other building. And then you guys just keep going.

[Marvin Joelz]

You're gonna be a big bill.

[Austin Montero]

Oh yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Be under the third building.

[Austin Montero]

That's what I'm saying. So like I, I forms the rest of my life. But, you know, I might not work in the warehouse the whole time. You know, I, I, I might if

[Marvin Joelz]

that happens and I'm still around and they create the Austin Montero workout and it's a hundred mile run. I'm gonna be honest with you, bro. I'm gonna give it an effort. And that's probably gonna be where I'm at, man.

[Austin Montero]

To that point. Not to get too off the, the certain, the topic that we're on right now, but like to kind of dive off that point, I'm somebody because I am by no means the most physically talented in the room. I'm not the biggest, I'm not the biggest, most jacked, not the quickest.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

But I can always, I can always guarantee you and I, I hope that one of the things that you know about me, hopefully one of the character, I guess is a big word, one of my character traits and I, the things that I hope you take away knowing me, is that I gave my best effort, effort at every opportunity.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

And at certain points that's going to be enough. At certain points, that's not Going to be enough.

[Marvin Joelz]

Did that come from the blue collar work ethic you think that you kind of had experience with before you got that first form?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, I think so. And I think a lot of it was. And I. I don't know how to really say this with. It's going to come off a little bit weird. But like, it was knowing the position that I was, it was trying to not understanding that I can't outshoot my coverage all the time, you know. And what I mean by that is that like, I know I knew very early on that I was never going to be the biggest, the fastest.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

So. And I accepted that. And at certain points that's not the best.

[Marvin Joelz]

Early on. Did you accept that?

[Austin Montero]

I think, I think for a little bit I did. And especially, you know, the 20, 21, 20, 22, which is when I really, like, I've only really been developing as a human being. You know, I heard somebody say one time, like, they're 30 years old, but they've only been on a journey for three, so they're actually only three to four live.

[Marvin Joelz]

We were talking about me last night and I was like, dude, I didn't understand anything, start even comprehending anything until I was 28.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And then I probably didn't really grasp it until 35 maybe.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

I'm 40 now.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So now I'm smart enough to know that I probably don't know what I'm talking about right now.

[Austin Montero]

Right.

[Marvin Joelz]

So when I'm 45, I'm probably gonna be like, dude, when you're 40, you make some dumb moves.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And then when I'm 50, I'm like, dude, when you're 45, you thought you knew. Yeah, man. You don't know.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So I think that's the. Why. I think that's there's got to be a quote or a saying of like, the wise man knows. He's like never done learning right or something.

[Austin Montero]

And it's always about to sum up that point. It's always about just doing your best. Like I. I will always respect somebody because for just doing what they can for like and put that in real

[Marvin Joelz]

world, we're giving it their all.

[Austin Montero]

In my real world opportunity is that like. So like a couple months ago in September, I ran 22 hours around HQ.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

To raise money for. For veterans.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

You know, and it was something where a lot of people that wanted to come out were, I guess, nervous about. Oh, well, I've never even run a mile before. I've never even, you know, done. Done this or whatever the case may be. And for me, it's, it's not about trying to run, you know, an entire 22 hour stint by my side. It's about. Okay, so. Because how this starts is just like everything in life. It's a snowball effect. You don't, you can't go from. You can't jump 10 stairs. You know, you gotta start.

[Marvin Joelz]

There's no way I'm running 22 hours,

[Austin Montero]

you know, so like, I pull 5k out. That's what I'm saying right now.

[Marvin Joelz]

If you're like, hey, now listen though. Three, four years ago, I couldn't pull 5K out.

[Austin Montero]

Exactly, exactly.

[Marvin Joelz]

I'm not giving it my all. I'm improving. Now here's the thing. I tell you I can pull 5K, but there's a dog in there that if you were beside me, like, bro, you have to keep going. I know that I would keep going.

[Austin Montero]

And that's what it's about. I mean, my biggest thing is for people. I always want people to push themselves a little bit outside their limits. If you've never.

[Marvin Joelz]

Mental limits.

[Austin Montero]

Exactly. If you've never walked, you've never walked 45 minutes. Minutes non stop before. But you walk 30 minutes before. Okay, we're hitting that 45 minutes today.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

If. If 45 minutes is cake for you. Okay, we're hitting it.

[Marvin Joelz]

Let's get it.

[Austin Montero]

If now we've something.

[Marvin Joelz]

How that is triggering your brain though. Like, if you were like. If I was like, bro, I do a 5k today and I get to 5k and I. You didn't say anything, I'd stop. But if you were like, that's all you got. And then all of a sudden I'd be like. And turn on a little bit more.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

If you were there and said that to me.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Well, it's all, it's all about your.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's a good positive use of ego and pride.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And.

[Marvin Joelz]

And it's like one more rep in the gym.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Eli does that to me. If I go to the gym with him, he's like, come on, dad, one more. And I'm like, no, dude, three is enough.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Two reps is enough.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Well. And something.

[Marvin Joelz]

Most time he's like, they're only £20.

[Austin Montero]

But something I've learned out of reading. Have you ever read Magic Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz?

[Marvin Joelz]

I haven't.

[Austin Montero]

Phenomenal book.

[Marvin Joelz]

What's it called?

[Austin Montero]

The Magic of Thinking Big.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, I've heard of the book.

[Austin Montero]

I haven't got Phenomenal. So it's it's in our library at first form. You know, in, in the, in the library it would be. They make sure you've heard behind the Porsche. Yeah, behind the Porsche. It's. It's all those books are books that are not. Have helped Sal and Andy and you know, the, the leaders of that company, the Wills, the Aarons, you know, really just grow as human beings. And the cool thing about kind of side point with that library and those books in there is it's not any one of those books is not how to become a better first form employee.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, for sure.

[Austin Montero]

How to become a better person. Human being a better person. And the Magic Thinking Big is one of the first personal development books. I read it twice a year now. It's so impactful in my life, you know.

[Marvin Joelz]

Remember the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho?

[Austin Montero]

I have it. Yeah. That one good book.

[Marvin Joelz]

Get in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's one. I read it twice a year.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's been pretty key for me to develop it. It's funny how that works.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

How there's some books that just hit you and some like Aaron, Aaron and Buildwit team have a great library here. We have library at WISCO back in Wisconsin. I say library, but it's just a collection of books.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, right.

[Marvin Joelz]

But it's just funny like how I could read the same book and you could read the same book and you'd be like, bro, this let me on fire. And I'm like, nah, yeah, it was

[Austin Montero]

good points in our life.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Which is funny. But then I think what you're talking about now is key. If you go back and do it again, it could mean something different to

[Austin Montero]

you because you're in a different state. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. So let's talk about the races. When you're investing in asphalt equipment, trust Matters Came International designs and builds sealcoat units, infrared heaters, asphalt hot boxes and other asphalt maintenance equipment for contractors, municipalities and professionals across the industry. We run KM sealcoat units because they're built tough, they perform in the field and we trust the people behind the brand. Another big reason we stand behind km. Their equipment is made right here in the usa. Their mission says it best. Innovative asphalt maintenance solutions. To learn more visit kminternational.com call 810 688-1234 or email sales m international.com because we're talking. You're talking about challenging yourself, giving yourself a go. And I just heard that.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

What a beautiful first form Orange Fury.

[Austin Montero]

Yes.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's not like you didn't it's not like this is your first time behind this thing.

[Austin Montero]

No.

[Marvin Joelz]

So tell us a little bit about the race. The first attempt.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And then what we're going to be going with this time.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So the race I'm doing in January, January 17th, so about 40, 38 days. Some somewhere in there. It's called the Shippy A Hundred Mile Indul endurance race. It's ultra marathon, ran in High ridge, Missouri, about 20 minutes from HQ. Yeah. So it's 100 miles and it's in middle of January in St. Louis, Missouri. So it's cold, it's snowy, it's rainy, it's, you know, all, you know, all the elements. So the first time I did it was around the same time last year. And I went into it and I'd say I was. I was pretty confident. Training was fine. All these different things. Really what it comes down to is I believe you learn through application and, you know, experience. And I had gotten out there and, you know, running was fine, but I just didn't have the right equipment, you know, because it snowed, I want to say, probably on and off two or three times.

[Marvin Joelz]

You're running 100 miles in the winter?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Yeah. Running 100 miles is easy. Running 100 miles, I don't know if that's easy. I'm just kidding. I've never. I've never even crossed that distance yet.

[Marvin Joelz]

I guess if I do a mile a day for 100 days straight. Yes, you're right.

[Austin Montero]

No, but the. The thing about it is, it was just. It was. It snowed. It had iced over. The whole course was a sheet ice. And I didn't have the equipment that people had. I walked out there and people had all this equipment that, you know, they got spikes for their shoes. They got this, they got that. I walked out there with. I had a pack, a water pack with, you know, pockets for snacks and, you know, gels or whatever the case may be. And I had my normal regular tread running shoes, you know, and we were going to give it a go. And so I.

[Marvin Joelz]

In Wisconsin, you have put stuff on your shoes called crampons.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, yeah. No, that's exactly what they were. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

If you go out on the ice,

[Austin Montero]

that's the legitimate term, you got to have them. Yeah. So I didn't have any of those. I made it to about 40, 45 miles and the race director was nice enough to be like, you don't have these.

[Marvin Joelz]

Did everybody have them?

[Austin Montero]

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I was the. I was. I didn't. I don't know, if I didn't read a supplies list or something, you know, preparation was not there on my. On my part. The race director was like, so what

[Marvin Joelz]

did you run into?

[Austin Montero]

Not having sliding, fallen. I mean, I had fallen probably at least a dozen times. Slipping and sliding and hitting my back and hitting my hips and all these different things. And so the race. The race director to mind you, I. I'd crossed.

[Marvin Joelz]

Now it can't be super great to run on crampons either.

[Austin Montero]

It's not super great. But I can tell you. And maybe. Maybe it was just the situation that I was in. It was way I can tell you after running 40 miles and fallen a dozen times. Have you would have took that crampons for 10 miles? Felt like I was usain bolt out there. You know, it was.

[Marvin Joelz]

Shut the front door. It was that big of a difference.

[Austin Montero]

Oh, well, it felt that way maybe if I was to go out there for mileage.

[Marvin Joelz]

So there's a lot of. Listen, I'm going to pretend like I know anatomy here. There's a lot of flexor muscles.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

That. That if you aren't secure, your body like tenses up and is not as fluid.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because you're like bracing already or trying to balance. Did that go away with them crampons on and you were like.

[Austin Montero]

I felt like I. Like I said like. And maybe it was an illusion to my brain. I felt like I could run for another.

[Marvin Joelz]

Whoa.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So, I mean, it felt.

[Marvin Joelz]

How far did you make it the

[Austin Montero]

first try last year I made it 50 miles. So I made it.

[Marvin Joelz]

I made it halfway.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. At a huge disadvantage. And then already your body functions different probably than most of the people who are running it. And we're going to go for it again this year.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Has the training itself been any different? Because, I mean, have you. Has your personal abilities improved since then as well? Have you something you've been tracking at

[Austin Montero]

all to know when it comes down to it? And I mean, people are going to tell you different. I'm not a professional at this at all.

[Marvin Joelz]

You know, until you're done with this one.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. I'm just a guy that you make

[Marvin Joelz]

it this one they're going to be. Heck yeah. He's good.

[Austin Montero]

Dude.

[Marvin Joelz]

I'm just completely joking. 50 miles I would have never been able to do.

[Austin Montero]

Right.

[Marvin Joelz]

I say that, but do you believe I could do 50 miles?

[Austin Montero]

I believe anybody can do. And I mean people are gonna. I believe belief in yourself and I mean. And I'm not talking about a. A frill. Frill like we're two guys at the bar and I'm gonna tell you that I believe in myself and I'm gonna go out there.

[Marvin Joelz]

I think I could do it.

[Austin Montero]

I'm thinking like I'm talking a deeper deep in your stomach belief in yourself. You can accomplish anything, you know.

[Marvin Joelz]

You know why I think I can do it?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because of what Goggins did his first times. I'm going to be in just as bad a shape as Goggins before he was even prepared and yeah, he was doing. My hips are going to be killing me, my feet are going to be obliterated. Yeah, I want to believe I have that type of mental strength. I've never tried anything like that to put myself through that type of mental strength. Now life itself has thrown quite a few stuff that's been really tough mentally, but never self inflicted to that type of level. But here's the thing. I. The only reason I know and I think I could do it is what I was talking about earlier. If you were beside me and you were like, hey, you said you're gonna do more than this, you gotta do more. That it would probably, it would push me farther than what I would push myself.

[Austin Montero]

And to that point, something I've really focused on this year intentionally and specifically is physical training is obviously phenomenal. You need to physically train for whatever event. Well, this is monkey, this is do what I say, not as I do because I definitely went out and you know, I've, I ran my first half marathon on two days notice. You know, never running six miles, you know, but definitely trained for what you do. But I, I believe personally that more or less it's, if we were to put it to a ratio basis, it would be 60, 40, mental over physical.

[Marvin Joelz]

What made you stop the first time? Like really, what was it where you were just like, I cannot go.

[Austin Montero]

If I, if I had to say which, I mean it's, it's not necessarily a proud thing but you know, it's not a proud thing for me to admit. But it was more or less knowing that because you have a time cap for these things like you, they're not.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, oh yeah, for sure.

[Austin Montero]

They're not gonna let you, they're not gonna let you just run till you finish 100 miles. It was more or less being where I was at. I don't exactly remember, but I think I had like eight or nine hours to cover 50 miles. Yeah, you know what I had. So like it was kind of. Which sucks. And there's a, there's a Hit to anything.

[Marvin Joelz]

But were you, like, I'm gonna conserve some of my body, rather.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, when I know I'm not gonna make it.

[Austin Montero]

I think it was a little bit of that. And I mean, something I've tried to. Tried to look at as well, which, you know, I'm still. That's a thought. I. I battle you. I'm sure everybody does. I battle with thoughts all the time. You know, is it. Is it.

[Marvin Joelz]

I don't think I.

[Austin Montero]

Everybody does.

[Marvin Joelz]

Trust me. Dude, I was in Nashville traffic this morning. There's people who are not battling with any type of thoughts at all.

[Austin Montero]

But it's one of those things where. I guess you're right. Yeah. Yeah, but it's one of those things where is it the right thought to have, is it not?

[Marvin Joelz]

You're putting it into perspective at first form. Yeah. Like. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody battles like. No, you're talking about hq. Like, I guess everybody in there is challenging and doing.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, because in. In Goggins, the second book, never finished, he talks about. About. I think it's the second book, but he talks about understanding, is this something that I should push myself to the brink of? Like, what is the risk reward? Like, if I was to push myself to the brink of hurting my body and, you know, being laid up for months on months or whatever the case may be is the. You know, if I was to get 80, 90 miles, what is the reward from that? Yeah. You know, so you gotta weigh that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Are you putting yourself out of something that you could do.

[Austin Montero]

Do. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

After this, if you put yourself to the brink.

[Austin Montero]

Because who knows if I would have. If I would have taken. Okay, like, I'm not gonna finish 100 miles, but I'm gonna. I'm gonna get to 80 miles. You know, am I still. Am I. Am I sitting here physically capable to now go do the race or.

[Marvin Joelz]

If you wanted to do something. April.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. You know.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Eli and I talked about this the other day. Somebody on his wrestling team had an injury, and it wasn't the kid's fault, and he wasn't, like, pushing himself far enough that it gave him an injury. But Eli has huge wrestling ambitions this year, and he has big ambitions in the combat world overall.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

He's already suffered a major break in his arm that he came back from. But we were talking about it, and I was like, sometimes you're down 12 to nothing in a wrestling match and somebody's trying to pin you and you're fighting back against it. You can put yourself in a situation to get hurt.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I'm like, there's nothing wrong with thinking about next weekend's tournament when that is happening. Yeah. Because if you are, if you over commit to this second to hold on to something that keeps you from achieving the long term goal, that to me, that's not the wise move.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So I've told Eli and you know, he doesn't want, he doesn't want to, he doesn't ever want the feeling of I gave up on this.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Now if we weren't thinking about the future and preparing, that would be the case. If he was like, hey, I'm just gonna let this guy pin me. But that's not the, that's not the case. We're thinking about the future.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And being able to achieve this larger term goal. So we've talked about before. I'm like, dude, if you get in a situation, even at any of these tournaments or duels or whatever, he needs to be able to wrestle the regionals and sectionals to get to state. Like, you have to do that. Yeah. That doesn't mean you have to win this duel. You don't have to win this tournament to do it. You don't have to do any of that.

[Austin Montero]

That.

[Marvin Joelz]

You have to win this to get there.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So we have to make sure that we get you here. Yeah. So if it's. You're in a tight spot and it's looking like it's going to hurt, could be sketchy. Just let them do whatever they're going to do so that we can get to the next spot. Right. You've been trained too hard. So I feel like that when you talk about am I. Is me running 50 miles, getting to 70 really going to help me achieve anything further than this, or is it going to be a detriment to an opportunity that I might have in the future?

[Austin Montero]

Coming up. It's a weird dichotomy because it's hard to.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Your pride is in the way there too, dude. Like as a man.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Your pride gets in the way there. One of the biggest challenges in concrete work is control. Control over quality, control over timing, and control over cost. Cementech designs and delivers volumetric concrete mixtures that are some of the most accurate and technologically advanced in the industry. Their equipment gives contractors real control over schedule, budget and concrete quality, allowing crews to mix exactly what they need when they need it, without the waste and limitations of traditional barrel mixers. I've been in the same industry circles as cement tech for years, and I've interviewed contractors who run their equipment Every day. It works, it delivers, delivers. If you want to learn more or to find a dealer near you, head to cementtech.com. you know I was asking you the question of like the last race to this race, has your body improved, your physical improvements or whatnot?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

One thing that we can always be improving is our mindset shift.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Has there been any changes in that area? Have you been working on that?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Since you literally work for a guy that wrote the book on building a tough mindset.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right. So what's that been like since the last race to this?

[Austin Montero]

Kind of like what I was saying earlier, like when it comes to the ratio factor of what I believe physical versus mental training. I think I believe your mental, your mental game and, you know, training your mind to be physically tough or mentally tough.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sorry.

[Austin Montero]

Is, you know, the main key and that's your main thing. The main thing, that's your navigational system that is going to cause your, your brain because your capacity is a state of mind, you know, like, and that's what I took away from that, that magic thing, big book, is that you're truly capable. It's the, I think it's the Henry Ford quote, if the man who thinks he can or cannot is correct. You know, so like you, first and foremost, you have to believe that you can actually accomplish and achieve something. You know, and when you knock that, when you, when you lock that in and you start to work on that, like I, I think it was two or three weeks ago and it was literally a thought that I, I had in my head. I spoke out loud, I, I batted it around a little bit, you know, when I was, I ran 50 miles around HQ two or three weeks ago,

[Marvin Joelz]

that's what that was. I was gonna ask you is how do you train for a hundred mile race?

[Austin Montero]

Physically or mentally?

[Marvin Joelz]

I would say both. But it's not like you can go out and run 100 miles today.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right. So it's not like, it's not like, hey, I want to get to where I can bench £325.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So I'm going to work my way up there little by little every day.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because whether you start out benching 200 and then you get to 3:25, the amount of time it takes is the same.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

The weight is increased. But when it comes to running 100 miles, yes, you can shorten that time some, but it's still not, not a time that you're going to get to within one day.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So how the heck do you train for 100 mile race.

[Austin Montero]

And again not a professional. Some people may say differently with physical training. I choose to believe that there's always going to be a little bit that

[Marvin Joelz]

you just how much do you run each day?

[Austin Montero]

So I'm gonna keep cutting you. Yeah, no, you're good at the end. Peak. At peak I'll be at you know like I mean for.

[Marvin Joelz]

No, no, no. I mean like for the race.

[Austin Montero]

How much?

[Marvin Joelz]

How is it cut up?

[Austin Montero]

Oh no. So I mean. Yeah. So like with the one I'm going into right now, it's 34 hour time cap. So you have 34 hours to complete over.

[Marvin Joelz]

We have 34 hours to compete. 100 complete 100 miles.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Through elevation gain and loss and all these different things.

[Marvin Joelz]

So how will you, how will you run that straight? Are you going to get it cut up? Like how does that work?

[Austin Montero]

Well, you stop at aid stations so you, you have about.

[Marvin Joelz]

And take a nap.

[Austin Montero]

I mean not during the 100 mile race. That's kind of the. So everything there's levels to everything. There's levels to the 5K. There's you 5K half marathon or 5K 10K half marathon marathon and so on and so forth. So like you don't really get into like where you're sitting and sleeping. I mean you can. Depending on race is going to be different because like there's some 100 mile races out there where you have a 50 hour time cap.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Some people are running through Grand Canyon.

[Austin Montero]

So you can. So at certain points you can and take a nap in 100 mile race. I would say for the majority of people that you know, the, the influencers that I've seen on social media most people would say that, that during a 100 mile race you don't do that. You're not. Yeah, you're just. That's kind of the Killian course. He's one of the newly guys that we're working with at 1p he just. He is the three the triple crown champion of the 200 mile race. So he's placed first place in the Tahoe 200 which is a 200 mile race out in Tahoe Cal. And then he's ran the Moab 240. He's won that. And then there's. I think it's the Bigfoot 200 and

[Marvin Joelz]

I can't remember where are you placed in that one?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So but anyway. Well he placed first. I don't know where it's ran. So he won all three of those races in a single year. And asking him you know, what is the biggest difference between a 200 mile race and 100 mile race and sleep deprivation. Because once you get to that point, you can. Because, and I agree with him just with the races that I've, which I haven't crossed 100 miles yet, but just you can push your body through sleep and through being tired for a day, you know, you can. We've all pulled an all nighter.

[Marvin Joelz]

We've all done, you know, things start to get squirrely.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, but they do. But I mean, you can still do it, you know, and at that. So at that 100 mile point, physically me speaking, I believe that there's always going to be a little bit. And that's the fun in it, you

[Marvin Joelz]

know, like, dude, I'm gonna sound like such a to Nikki after this podcast because I'll get like six hours now. I know I whine. Yeah, like I needed seven. I need seven hours of sleep, Nikki.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, no, and it's a, it's a thing, man. But I mean it's, it's one of those things where it's really just about physically with the training. I believe that there's always going to be a point where you don't scratch it. Like there's going to be a, a point where my training. I have not reached this point yet because at a certain, like, you know, everything's going to blow up. My legs are going to be so totally gassed. My. I'm going to be so tired, I'm going to be pissed off.

[Marvin Joelz]

What hurts first?

[Austin Montero]

I don't want to be. For me personally, it's my hip flexors and my quads. I don't know what that is. I mean, obviously you can, there's exercises that you can do to strengthen this.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, maybe two.

[Austin Montero]

I mean, yeah, because I, I walk a little bit uneven. So like it's one of those things. But really what it comes down to is. And that's, I believe that's what you do it for. I can't remember. I think it was Chad Wright who I heard say on a podcast once, that like most people, they don't understand that in whatever race I'm doing. Like I always talk about, like take the 22 hour run, for instance, which is no defined distance. It's just purely moving for 22 hours. I can't speed up or slow down 20 hours. So for me, I have to get through 20 hours and I have to endure 20 hours of moving to get to the two hours that is actually helping me grow as a human being. Helping me Process. I want to get to that point in whatever race that I'm doing of I've never been here before. This is because that's where I mean I. In stretching your capacity. That's what helps you truly grow as a human being. You know what does it feel like

[Marvin Joelz]

when you do that?

[Austin Montero]

It's a powerful thing because you don't. You get to this point where you're on. It's unrecognizable to you. You're uncomfortable. But you just. And if you do it correctly, you slow yourself down, you take a breath, you know, you recenter a little bit and you just. You just take it. You just. And you just chop. You know, how do you eat an elephant?

[Marvin Joelz]

One.

[Austin Montero]

One bite at a time. So it's just knocking it down single piece and doing it. And that's how you build confidence. You know, that's one of my favorite quotes ever is I'm going to credit to Alex Ramosis. You don't build confidence by shouting affirmations at yourself in the mirror.

[Marvin Joelz]

You ha.

[Austin Montero]

You build confidence by having an undeniable stack of evidence that. That proved yourself that you are who you say that you are. And if you do that like somebody who's.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's walking the walk.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Somebody who's ran 105ks running their 101st 5k is not going to. You know and it may. They may clap. Pat themselves in the back. But truly building confidence that they can take into their day to day lives.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

Isn't going to be. It's going to be fear forward to it. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You know what one of the craziest things is? We did. It's called the Mutt run or I'm gonna butcher this dude. It's called the. The Mutt Run or something like that in Louisville. And Nikki and I were going to do it last year at equip and I think we will stay out too late or something. And we're like, nah, we're not doing it. And then this year we signed up for it again and same thing. You got to pay to go. You get a T shirt, whatever. You pay to run. It was like that joke like you were talking about the beginning. But this year we ran it and Nikki was so dang proud. Yeah like crazy. That we completed it. And she. We got the metal and was taking. She's like, we need to take a picture here. We gotta take a picture. The next day, dude. The next day she was like my hips hurt so bad. I was like, yeah, that's because we don't do this regularly, but she totally signed up for it and did it.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Did it together. And I was like, that was my second time doing it. And I just was like, incredibly proud of her and she was of herself as well. And I'm like, well, maybe that gives us some belief beef because the next month she had to host the Dirt World Summit where I got to see the guys from HQ and whatnot. But to have confidence in that, I've watched her confidence improve.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

We are doing things that improve her confidence. We were on podcast there. Yeah, she was on podcast with me on some of this stuff.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Now watch her speak more. Be more confident in what she's doing. Speaking. So, yeah, it's growing these things and improving her. Yeah, yeah. Improving what she does. And, and it's an incredible thing to see, but it's also cool because you know that feeling.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

When you see it in somebody else and that's contagious.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, it's contagious.

[Austin Montero]

It's cool and it's, it's so awesome to see because people, one of the things I, I, I've a thought that I had a couple weeks ago that I've really kind of locked in and, and I have full belief in now is I think the reason that people the, I made an Instagram caption about it and the, the first line of the caption was, don't be too caught up in your own self pity that you, that you forget to build confidence.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

And what I mean by that is we go through hard things every day, you know, as humans, you know, and, you know, some people. And for some people, the hard thing is, is different. For some people, you know, the hard is financial struggles, you know, trying to figure out how to put food on the table for their families, whatever the case may be. And well, I don't want to act like I'm sitting here in my ivory tower and, you know, all these different things. I think what happens a lot of the times is when people are in that situation, they are too caught up in, like, why is this happening to me? This sucks. I hate this. You know, why do I have to be in this situation? And they forget that they're going through that. You know, it's the old saying of, you survived a, you've survived every hard day that you've ever been through.

[Marvin Joelz]

Can I ask you a personal question?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

How often do you think about, like, with your day to day, how often do you think about how you were born?

[Austin Montero]

Oh, every day. Every day.

[Marvin Joelz]

How often through that day. Do you think about it?

[Austin Montero]

I mean, you know, it's. Anytime that anything. Something hard comes up. Anything. Well, and it's any. Anytime that. I mean, anytime that I get to. I truly believe that I wasn't supposed to be here, like, and I mean that, you know, wholeheartedly, as much as I possibly can. So, like, anytime that I get to. To have an experience like this, Anytime that I get to. I mean, as simple as waking up in the morning, you know, and, like, every day.

[Marvin Joelz]

I didn't define the question correctly. How often do you think of it and you're like, oh, crap.

[Austin Montero]

Oh, from a negative aspect, you mean? Yeah, not really. There is times. I mean, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not perfect by any means.

[Marvin Joelz]

But how often do you think, look at it and be like, this is cool. Cool.

[Austin Montero]

I think it's. I think more or less now I understand that it's because of the way that I'm made up as a human being.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

That this is. This is the opposite. Like, it's because of the way that I'm made up as a human being that I get this opportunity to do these things. And I.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because that's a cool perspective. Yeah, bro.

[Austin Montero]

Because I don't believe that if I was. If I was a fully functioning, you know, 100 physically capable person.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

Would I have this drive that I have. Would I have this want and this fire and desire to run 100 miles?

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

To do all these things. But it's. Because it's. It's kind of that situation of, you know, I don't have kids, but, I mean, you do, like, you know, you tell your kids not to do something. What's the first thing they want to do? They want to do it. Yeah. You know, so don't touch that thing. They want to touch it.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

So it's. For me, it's kind of that thing of. This should. Running 100 miles or moving at any capacity should be out of the question for me. Okay. So that's badass. That. In my brain of, like. Let's scratch that a little bit. Let's see. Let's. You want to tell me?

[Marvin Joelz]

No.

[Austin Montero]

Okay. I want to. I want to touch that stove. You know, so it's.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

I don't really think about it from a negative connotation because I. I mean, you know, it's. I just. The struggles in life, in any area of life, are what builds you as a human being. Sure. Anything you go through. So I don't know. I just. And I Truly believe that God has given me a purpose in my.

[Marvin Joelz]

And you got some ambition.

[Austin Montero]

He's laid that in my heart. You know. And it's something where I am made. I was made this way to show other people what they're capable of. You know, if that is. This is not. This is a key element. My disability, my handicap is a key.

[Marvin Joelz]

I love that you air quoted that.

[Austin Montero]

You know what I mean? And like. Because anything. You know. And that's.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

I feel.

[Marvin Joelz]

I used to think that same. So this is. You asked me why. Why did you. How do you pick who you want on here and why. Right. All that. You asked me that. I've came to that realization with where I was born, who I was born to, how I was born, what I had to go through to get out of it. There was a moment, a moment. There were years where I was like, why me? God.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And now on the back side, if I would have been any different, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be doing this. I wouldn't have had that ambition to create what I'm creating now or have you here or even be at HQ when I'm there or whatever. If I would have been any different, if I'd have been given these things, I wouldn't have had an ambition to build.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

What I built. Right. So it's just a crazy thing. And I think that I realized through your content what you realized, what I had realized. And that was the fact that you had come to the same realization that I did about what our handicaps were.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

That actually being born with silver spoon or the ivory tower like you said. Yeah. Or being born fully functional can be a disadvantage.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Completely. I've seen trust. You know, people say trust. Fund babies or whatever. Dude.

[Austin Montero]

They.

[Marvin Joelz]

They can barely function in life.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

With zero ambition. They question why they exist. Exist. Not all of them, but they question why they exist a lot.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

I don't really have a question of why I exist.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Like I've kind of figured it out for the most part. Sometimes this industry gives us more than a paycheck. It gives us the chance to give back. Dream On 3 creates custom sports dreams for children living with life altering medical conditions. Moments to give families hope, joy and memories that last a lifetime. This isn't about attention or headlines. It's about showing up for kids and families during some of the hardest moments of their lives. We believe in the mission of Dream On Three and we're proud to support and help raise awareness for the work they're Doing. To learn more, visit dreamon3.org and follow them on Instagram @dream on underscore3. What are some non negotiable? Do you have any that are just non negotiables? Oh, yeah, this has to get done daily or whatever.

[Austin Montero]

Working out, moving in some capacity. The, the earlier that you can do that, the better, I believe. Just because I'm the day is going to pull you in many different directions. You can always get off the list. So get it done, you know, pay yourself first.

[Marvin Joelz]

How important is a morning routine?

[Austin Montero]

Pretty important. I'm a huge believer in routine, but I think that it can become something that, that you can't be fully.

[Marvin Joelz]

Dude, I hate my brother Will's morning routine. Post on his Instagram story. That guy does more before he leaves the house than what I feel like I do all day.

[Austin Montero]

He does, but. And it's kind of something where I think I learned it from him. Taking it from him is I'd like

[Marvin Joelz]

to tie him to a chair one day and just be like, dude, you don't get to do anything today. He'd just be like, you're dead.

[Austin Montero]

He's somebody that he, he talks a lot about not being married to things like, you know, he's very. Somebody who's regimented, obviously. Obviously.

[Marvin Joelz]

But he cuts loose, too.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, but he, but he's also somebody that, like, hey, I, I like to read in the morning, first thing when I wake up.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

But if I have to read right before I go to bed, not a big deal. Like, we'll get it done. It's all about just check it out,

[Marvin Joelz]

check it off before you.

[Austin Montero]

Most of it is, it's doing it with the right attention and doing the task.

[Marvin Joelz]

I asked you when we went to go out last night to eat, I was like, what can you eat? What can't you eat? Like, I wanted to be very respectful of your training up to this. And you're like, like, bro, I pound Sour Patch Kids by the handful, you know, so. And I was like, well, what about like, this or that? You know, pizza, whatever we're gonna eat. And you're like, yeah, whatever. What is the nutrition principles, like, kind of that you have right now?

[Austin Montero]

Right now it's like, I'm. I'm pretty locked. Like, I'm, I'm pretty disciplined. I guess I should say to the, to my main meals, like, you know, whether it be. But I also understand that, you know, and I may lean on the fact a little bit that I'm young and, you know, I can get Away with a few things. But, you know, when I have the opportunity to. To, you know, go out and share a meal with a friend or, you know, do something like that. I understand that. It's not going to kill me.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

I understand that. You know, I'm gonna. I'm going to, you know, I'm putting in the training and the work to. It's not going to fully detriment me. Now, if I was somebody who.

[Marvin Joelz]

What about additional, though? Like, what about, like, are you supplementing?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So, I mean, every. Yeah. I take vitamins. Yeah. Vitamins.

[Marvin Joelz]

The biggest education I got from Austin then is Austin Davis.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Is the amount that our food pretty much that we consume regularly is lacking in nutrition.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because we have to make so much of it.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So fast that the nutrition is just not what it used to be. And we have to figure out how to get all of our vitamins and minerals and everything so that we can process what we do get.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Really good. It made my. It made me think less about my body as just like this thing that just is consuming as like, this is a machine.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Marvin, are you not going to change oil on your trucks? Are you not going to put new tires on if you hear a squeak? Are you not going to investigate what the heck the squeak is?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right. And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, okay, I better figure this out. And dude, I've been going back through some of my old photos and videos on my phone, whatnot, and looking at. They have my old body in there.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I'm like, this is a great piece of content, but it's super embarrassing to me that I'm that. And it's not just because my body's big. No one would really care. But it's embarrassing to me because I felt like I neglected something that's so simple.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Nowadays.

[Austin Montero]

Well, it's. And it comes down to understanding what you know internally. And that's what I love about running so much. And I mean, you'll hear. Will talk about this a lot too, is. And that's where we've kind of connected in a sense is when it comes to running specifically, that is a sport where really nobody knows your full output other than you.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

Like, that is like, how hard you're pushing. Nobody knows if you're at, you know, if you're given all you got or you're given 60 for me and for you. Like, we all know our internal standard. I know where I can be.

[Marvin Joelz]

You don't know. Yeah. You know, if you're giving it your all. Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

So that's. And that's something. That's. It's a silent thing most of the time.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

In case you. Unless you choose to share that to an extent. But I think that's where that comes from, is we know what we're capable of. We know. And it's. You know, we all got. We all got conscience. We all got two people playing games on our shoulders each and every day.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, yeah, man.

[Austin Montero]

That. Forcing that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, yeah, dude. You make choices.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Well, it was like last night when we were ordering food.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Shout out Martin's Barbecue. It was fantastic again down here. But we got. Looking at the sides.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I was like. And what's funny is, like, you and I, our bodies function differently. You. You're gonna burn through whatever you eat. Right. So I was like, dude, I better get green beans. That way I'm not putting stuff on. And you're like, I need more than green beans because I'm gonna be working my ass off. Right. So we look at these sides, and I'm like, okay, I better choose some things that are slow digesting carbs, not too calorie dense.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And then I'll just enjoy the. The spare ribs that I got, which were freaking massive, by the way. But I totally wanted the Mac and cheese and the cornbread, bro.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Or I guess they call it hoe cake there at Martin's. But I wanted that.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I could have.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You wouldn't have said anything.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Nobody else wouldn't have known. Yeah, I would have known.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And that's the cool thing, man. And I think that's. Hopefully somebody that's listening to this that maybe goes through the different. The same type of situation is that, like, there's a sense of, you should be proud of yourself, that people should be when they choose to make that decision. Because it's like, we were talking about yesterday, like, the cool thing about going on a journey, being intentional with it. 75 hard, you know, is an awesome tool to really hone in on teaching you that.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

That you understand after going through something like that, like, it's a choice. Like, I. You know, when. Back a few years ago, when it was, you know, a couple beers at dinner time or if it was a meal that maybe wasn't terrible but could be better. I had to eat that. Like.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

It was, like, a pull on me too. Now if I go out and if I have a couple beers or if I. If I go out and I eat a little bit off plan or whatever the case. I fully know that. Like, I'm making that choice.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

Like, I could. I could as easily as I chose to do it. I'm choosing not to do it. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Austin Montero]

You know, and.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I think there's this thing, right. Where our society has been like, man, you're. You're in New Orleans. You gotta eat boudin. You have to. You know, I mean, you're in Nashville. We gotta get hot chicken.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. It's like.

[Marvin Joelz]

Well, I don't have to, actually. I don't have to.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And there's been times when I've been on 75 hard. Hard. And it's been during conference season. And at conference season, one of the big things is the networking after parties.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And we were talking about drinking, like. What was the phrase we used? Like, if you drink.

[Austin Montero]

Social drink.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Social drinking.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

I know how it's like.

[Austin Montero]

It's. You have to. Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I've argued that with Nikki before when we've been on 75 hard. We did it this summer. I think we did 75, like, medium. I said I'll cross. I'm gonna be honest with you. But, you know, there'd be times where, like. Yeah. I would rather just eliminate myself from that. That atmosphere.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Than go there and have, like. You can be like. You have to do this. Like, I just. Making a choice to eliminate myself from that atmosphere.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Is way easier than me trying to eliminate the choice when I'm in it.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So I think also that big perspective of, like, when you make the choice.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Knowing that I put myself in that environment is going to be way harder. Harder. I can make the choice to not do that, to put myself in there. So I think it's a habit that, you know, it's. There's habits you can add and habits you could cut. Yeah. That will make that happen. And I'm pretty proud of that. What about you? What are you most proud of? If you had to be like, of all the things, what are you most proud of?

[Austin Montero]

I like knowing that I'm making an impact. I like knowing that, for the most part, I could honestly say that when people have a. Have an interaction with me, when people see my posts on social media, whatever the case may be, like, they're inspired, they're impacted. It's a positive thing in my life, to whatever extent means something, and I'm helping other people in whatever form or fashion. Some people, I think you're succeeding. And that's truly, like. Like. Like, I Kind of told you. And like I kind of told you last night, like, you think you're succeeding in that? I do, I do.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's good.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And I mean, it's, it's just all about being useful.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's okay to say that.

[Austin Montero]

And I think, yeah, I think it's, it's all about.

[Marvin Joelz]

I think we're all right with saying,

[Austin Montero]

yeah, I think it's being useful.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I'll tell you a little thing. A lot of people have. So I've been posting consistently for a decade or better, for sure, more than a decade now probably. And people have witnessed Eli from 3 years old to 14 years old now. So they've seen him progress all the way through. And I get a lot of comments about mine and Eli's relationship. Yeah, I think I was, we were in line last night and I was like, dude or no, we were at the candy store.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Here on Broadway. And I was like, I sent him a pic. I sent him a picture of Los Arman Pollos Hermanos from Breaking Bad. Yeah, he loves that, that show. I sent a picture of like the soda from there and I was like, that's my best dude. That's my best friend, bro.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I get a lot of comments on that. And people, I think people, you know, and I get a lot of positive comments were like, man, you're doing it. You're doing it just right. You're raising that boy just right. Like, you're such a good dad. You're just, you know, you're taking care of him, you're instilling in him the right things, doing that. And I think that people have a false view of that. I'm intentionally doing that. I'm going to circle this back to like what you're most proud of, because what I'm most proud of is at one point in my life, I was a kid that was super self conscious, an introvert, super scared of what people thought of him. Had a realization that he was poor. It was a tough go, his skin was dark, his last name was different than everybody else's. And that kid wanted somebody to take care of him.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And change those things. No, that person did not show up until I was 28. And it was me. Yeah, I literally, that was the point where I realized there's a quote you, you've quoted a lot of times. This time I've been slacking, but there's one that no one's coming to save you. Get up. Yeah. And I started that process without realizing that was the quote. At 33, when I started going through my divorce from my first wife. And then Eli was involved in that, and my daughter Elizabeth was involved in that, and my ex wife, who I have a good relationship with, yet no one was coming to save me. I had to get up. There's still. I think what's.

[Austin Montero]

What.

[Marvin Joelz]

The reason why I'm so great with Eli is I'm trying to take care of that kid still.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Like me.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. Right.

[Marvin Joelz]

I'm still like, I got you.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

I've created this thing. You're safe here. It's all good. We're succeeding. I've helped you succeed, quote, unquote, succeed. And it's all good.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

I don't really put a lot of effort into being Eli's good dad. I put more effort into being the type of person that can take care of that young kid. That was me.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

So the byproduct is Eli's been able to get that version of me.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And there's been times where I've been able to choose to not be that version of me. And the way that he looks at me, it was killer. It literally will just make me feel like. Like less than anything. I made a post. Nikki and I went out to dinner the other night, and she has this thing called Eat Drink, y'. All.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's an Instagram profile at Eat Drink, Y'. All. And she loves going here to Nashville, going out to eat, taking pictures of the food, talking about it, because she loves eating. She just loves intricate cuisine and just really good stuff when it comes to that capacity. And there was a chocolate cream piece. And I had told Eli a few days, like, a week earlier because he's been having to lock in for weight cut. And I'm like, dude, I'll walk in with you. I'm with you on this. Well, I posted a picture of that cream pie saying, this is what happens when you go out with At Drink Eat, y'. All. And he sent me a. He's literally only sent me a text and said, locked in, huh? And, dude, I felt this big. Like, I didn't eat that thing.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right. But it made me.

[Austin Montero]

Hold me accountable, man. He did, dude.

[Marvin Joelz]

And I felt like.

[Austin Montero]

Like.

[Marvin Joelz]

Like that big. And luckily, like, since Thanksgiving, I'm down some lbs, too. He. He had to be. That kid slacked, and he had to. He tried to cut 10 pounds in two days for rough. Yeah. And he's 138 with 5% body fat. Yeah. So there's not a lot of weight to get lost. There. But it made me feel like that and feel that big. And that's. He said that, that. But honestly, the little version of me would have said that too.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You know what I mean? So it held me accountable. And I think those things.

[Austin Montero]

You saying that, man, that's something that, something I'm trying to, you know, a thought that I'm continually trying to put in my brain waves on a continuous basis. There's so many different habits to success, habits to build and philosophies to put into place and different things. Something I always say is at my core, I'm a dumb human being.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure, dude, I say that all the time. I'm Neanderthal.

[Austin Montero]

I need simple. I don't need, I can't follow 20 step plans to success. I need. Give me a quote. Yeah, I need simple. 1, 2. This is how you, this is how you align yourself. And maybe while we won't be able to hit everything, something I always talk about is be the person that you needed in that, in that, in that time in your life, you know, And I think whether it's. Be the dad that you wish you would have had, be the leader you wish you, you would have had.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

I mean, that's what I tell when I, when I'm talking to the guys at work. And you know, while I'm no. By no means a leader by title, I believe everybody's a leader. Everybody always looks to you. And leadership is not a title. Leadership as a personality, it's an identity to choose to take on. You know, so be the leader that you used to have. Be the dad that you, that you wish you would have had. All those different things. If you do that, if you be that person that you wish you could have had in your life at every opportunity, I think that, you know, we could, we can, you can live a pretty good life. You can make pretty good impacts.

[Marvin Joelz]

I used to be £300. 297 to be exact. And if you're around me at asphalt or construction expos or in my circle, you remember that Marvin, I'm not him anymore. I've all but eliminated the choices that got me there in the first place. And I'm down about £100 over the last few years all from making better, better choices. I know it's hard in our industry to find time and that those gas station stops are way too convenient. But we in our industry aren't getting enough of what we need to live healthy and stay productive with those choices being our constant. Besides prepping my own food I choose foods and supplements from first form to help me get to where I need to be, along with a regular exercise routine. You've seen my posts over the last few years about using First Forms products to get what I need into. Into my body on the road and keeping out excess of what I don't need or want. I use at least one first form product every day to ensure I stay on track. I've worked way too hard to let this slip. If you use the link in the episode description, you'll get free shipping on orders over $75 from first form today. If you reach out to me personally via DM or email, I would love to tell you about what I use and my experiences using First Forms products. Are you disciplined?

[Austin Montero]

I would say so.

[Marvin Joelz]

When did you come to the realization

[Austin Montero]

of I'm disciplined after 75? I mean, David Goggins had a.

[Marvin Joelz]

When was that?

[Austin Montero]

That was 2022. 2021.

[Marvin Joelz]

Okay, so what was the deal? Did you. You just weren't disciplined or you flipped a switch and said, I'm going to be disciplined? Like, I want to know. I asked this question because I wanted. Is discipline our atmosphere? Is it something we turn on? Is it something you're born with?

[Austin Montero]

Oh, no. Discipline is a skill that you build every single day of your life. It's a. It's a. It can. It can flee from you, it can grow, but it's something that you have to.

[Marvin Joelz]

Like lifting weights.

[Austin Montero]

Oh, yeah. I mean, and you have a. You have a discipline. You have a. You have an opportunity to build this.

[Marvin Joelz]

If you exercise it, it's like.

[Austin Montero]

It's like, for instance, like, you know, I mean, getting coffee this morning, you know, that's an opportunity to not be disciplined. To, like, I could. Because in. Because you can walk in.

[Marvin Joelz]

We have a lot of caffeine going on. Me and you both are like, dude, we got a lot of caffeine, but

[Austin Montero]

you can walk in. I could walk into a coffee shop and I could get the. The. I don't even know. I don't drink. I will.

[Marvin Joelz]

You want me to say it?

[Austin Montero]

What?

[Marvin Joelz]

The brown sugar latte with extra whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Or I can just get a black. Exactly.

[Austin Montero]

So, like, there's opportunities to exercise it every single day. And for me, kind of where my journey all started. I mean, we're coming. Coming full circle here, but like, yep, for me, what it was.

[Marvin Joelz]

That's what a good podcast host does.

[Austin Montero]

But for me, what it was, yeah, you've been doing this, but for me, what it was is I remember exactly where I was. Don't remember exact time or time of year or day or whatever the case may be.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

I was in the. The sauna of Gold's Gym listening to. Like I said, my, my. My buddy Josh got me onto David Goggins. I was listening to his first book, Can't Hurt Me.

[Marvin Joelz]

Sure.

[Austin Montero]

And not knowing very much about Goggins, my buddy, just telling me that he is this somebody who's going to give it to you straight, shoot you where it's at, all this good stuff. Listen to that book. Listen to everything he's gone through. All of, you know, the things with his dad, you know, growing up, the way he did all these. And it was for something like me specifically. Like there's a part in his book not to give any spoilers to anybody, but where he runs on.

[Marvin Joelz]

Dude, if you're listening to this podcast, you haven't read it yet.

[Austin Montero]

Phenomenal book. Definitely recommend. I've read that book and I've listened to the audiobook more than any book I've ever partaken. But he talks about how he runs on broken legs in the. In SEAL training. And for me, I don't know what it was, but it was just something like, okay, if. If that man can do all of the things that he's done and overcome all the things that he can, like, what can I accomplish? You know?

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

Who am I to say?

[Marvin Joelz]

Why can't you?

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, why can't I do this? So that's kind of where it all starts.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's a scary thing to think. Like, you're the. What a scary thing concept to think. Life has been hard. I was dealt a raw deal and now I have a realization. What a scary realization to be like, I'm the one holding me back.

[Austin Montero]

But it's a.

[Marvin Joelz]

But it.

[Austin Montero]

It is a scary thing. But to kind of. But if you can conquer it, it's a powerful like.

[Marvin Joelz]

Right. It's a freeing thing.

[Austin Montero]

Breathe.

[Marvin Joelz]

You're like, oh, that's all it was. Yeah, I was. I had a. I had a mental grip on myself.

[Austin Montero]

Well, because for me, said again, simple guy. I need simple concepts like, you know, to give power, which is what you're doing. Yeah, that's. That's another power. That's another. I keep saying the word powerful, but that's another very impactful thing. You know, when you're able to. When you look at it from perspective of you're not just a lot, you're giving power, which as men.

[Marvin Joelz]

Knowledge.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. You're but you're giving power to other people. Yeah. It's crazy that you give power to share knowledge. You give power to other people. You give power to the, the, the guy that cut you off.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

In traffic.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

To give away that power that you have as a human being, not just as a man, but as a person in general. To take that back as yourself, it just kind of. It washes everything away. It makes things, at least in my brain, it makes things very simple because I'm like, okay, I don't have to worry about what anybody else.

[Marvin Joelz]

Life's not complex.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. I don't have to worry about what Tom John or Bud down the street said about me. You know, whatever the case may be. I can just focus on. On what I need to do, who I need to become, and everything else will build and grow from that.

[Marvin Joelz]

So what a. What a good advice to live a fulfilling life.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

You could do something super simple, one thing. But if your mindset can shift, you can feel like you're living a huge fulfilling life. You know what this example of is? Like, people who work really hard at something, get a huge house, get that car they want, it's on the beach, whatever. And then are miserable.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

It's like you got 95 of the way there. You did it backwards. You should have unlocked your mind first and understood that. And then when you had the ambition to do those things, they would have felt like they should have felt.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Instead you chased them for the wrong reasons. And now you've made it way harder on yourself to unlock what you needed to unlock in order to give yourself that power.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And it's just, and it's.

[Marvin Joelz]

What will the 100 mile race do for you when you take care of it this January? And you can notch that off.

[Austin Montero]

That's cool, man. Because you never know. That's. At least.

[Marvin Joelz]

Is that exciting?

[Austin Montero]

That's exciting. You never know. Like, to be honest, like, you, you ask it for.

[Marvin Joelz]

How good is it going to feel to be able to. For somebody to say, I ran 100. And you're like, yeah, me too.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. No, that's. It's always nice understanding for me what it is, is that's a big part.

[Marvin Joelz]

Not for them. And I mean not for like a club, but just for you to be like, yeah, me too.

[Austin Montero]

Well, no, and that's, That's a huge part of. I mean, if, If I'm being completely honest, that's a huge reason why I do what I do is because I, I am drawn to the thought of what's it going to be like, if I do this thing? Yeah. What is. But like. But it's cool because you just never. You never really know because, like, for me, me, I'm living a life at 27 years old that five years ago,

[Marvin Joelz]

you were, like, completely out of reach.

[Austin Montero]

I mean, not to mention just being on this podcast, somebody wanting to hear my story, but, like, I've built phenomenal relationships. I got to give a shout out to Lexi Johnson. Sure. Lexi Johnson's been one of my best friends. And that relationship that I've built. I've been able to speak at her anniversary event the past two years. You know, she's been somebody who's put me on a platform. I've been on. On, you know, and it's. It's a small thing, but you got to build somewhere. You got to start somewhere. Like, I've been able to build on. Be on the same programs as speakers of, you know, Ben Newman. My name's been right next to those people. Yeah. You know, and like that for me. And so you just never know. Like, I could. And, you know, there's a saying out there of life is what happens to you when you make plans. You know, you just never know what's going to come out of things. So, like, I'm going to complete this 100 miles. It's going to be really cool for me as an accomplishment, personally. But what I'm most excited for is to see what comes out of it and so that I can utilize whatever does come out of it to impact other people, which. There's a point with that that is kind of undefined, I guess, to build on that.

[Marvin Joelz]

What's one thing you would want people to know or remember about? What's one thing you want people to know or remember about? Doesn't have to be just in this conversation, but, like, if they're going to leave something today that you could give, what would it be? What would you want them to know or remember? We've. We've. We've hit on some good ones. Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

I believe that belief in yourself and belief in anything that you want to do is the most powerful. True. And I mean, I'm talking.

[Marvin Joelz]

Don't just say it.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, don't just say it. I. There's a. There's a quote from Ed Mylett in his book Power One More where it says, people don't have to believe in what you say say, but people have to believe that you believe what you say. Yeah. And, like, you could think, what's the

[Marvin Joelz]

best way to get you to believe yourself. What's the best way?

[Austin Montero]

It's through action and doing it and through concrete proof that I have done this thing, I have done these things. And it just. And if you allow it to, it'll bleed into every other thing in your life. Like that race that, you know, you and Nikki took part in, you know, and how that, you know, has grown over, you know, time and in other areas. But it's just I, to me, first form has 12 core values, you know, and for me personally, belief is the most powerful one because if you have belief in yourself, it can truly change your life. And that, and I believe that you, you go back through my entire story. It all started with belief that I could actually do this to bring it

[Marvin Joelz]

back full circle on our end because this is a like quote unquote construction podcast supposed to be or whatever a guest set across from you yesterday day. And I knew this young man when he first started and he started seal coating driveways with buckets. And in five years, he told me yesterday, I asked him, he has 17 dump trucks beyond what, four pavers, 40 employees. I would have never believed that son of a gun five years ago if he would told me that was what was going to happen. There's no way way. But now that he's done it, anything that he said yesterday was that was going to happen in the next five years. I believe him.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. And you learn that and you, you learn it through and, and I'm.

[Marvin Joelz]

He could have told me he was going to have 17 dump trucks and four pavers Austin, I wouldn't have believed him.

[Austin Montero]

But he had to believe himself, you know, and that's, that's all that matters. That it doesn't matter.

[Marvin Joelz]

It didn't matter what I said.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, it doesn't matter what other people. People doesn't matter what other people think of what you say. But now I believe you and you grow that. And it's like. And I'm, and I've been so fortunate in my life to, to go every single day and walk into a place that not only has amazing people, but also has amazing leaders.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

To the standard of, of Andy Frisello, Will Grumpke, you know, these, these types of individuals and it's. And I've been able to learn from them and grow relationship with them. And something that for one, Andy always says is, you know, the work's going to come from. The work is going to come before the belief. You know, there's going to be a certain point because for one, for the majority of the time you haven't given people anything to believe in.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah. Like you can't try getting sponsors for a podcast in the asphalt industry.

[Austin Montero]

You know what I mean?

[Marvin Joelz]

So you literally have to do the work.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

And show that before.

[Austin Montero]

So there's going to be a. There's going to be a lot of quote unquote free work before pay.

[Marvin Joelz]

Oh, for sure.

[Austin Montero]

Payment ever comes, you know, and those different things. And then two, you know, Andy always talks about it, like when he started S2 and supplements with supplement superstores. To him, there's still this joke of, you know, the little vitamin shop, you know, and used to always tell me, you think you got this little vitamin shop. Yeah. And he was sleeping in the back of the, the store. All these different things. Nobody believed that. But now, now, you know, there's probably a few people out there.

[Marvin Joelz]

People say, I always knew he'd make it.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah, people always say that. And then there's probably people now that like, okay, well, he's gotten to this point, but can he really get there? You know, and of course there's always going to be like, and I'm a true believer that, that it doesn't matter what you do, you know, and it doesn't matter if you, if you run marathons, if you're in the asphalt industry, hell, if you're trying to cure cancer, you. There's always going to be somebody. Curing cancer, I think we can all say is probably one of the most pure missions that you can go on, you know, like, who would hate that? I guarantee you there's 8 billion people in the world. There's going to be somebody out there. So you can't worry about who's going to hate you or who's going to say negative things. You just gotta, you gotta. If you truly believe in what's your heart, in your heart, that what you're doing and what you're pursuing and what you're putting your time and your, your effort into is, is pure. You're doing it for the right reasons. And you, you truly are doing it to make a positive impact on somebody or something. Then just follow with it and the right people will come to, to come to pass and I'm sure my own journey.

[Marvin Joelz]

Dude, we could go for hours. I know that. All right, man. I just really appreciate you joining us today and really coming out. I know you were worried whether or not the conversation was going to go ago. I believed in you. Yeah, right. So otherwise we wouldn't have came out and, and did all this. So I really, really appreciate you being, being here, sharing your experiences, sharing what you've learned in life and, you know, what the future can hold and what the possibilities are. Yeah, it's super great, super happier with first form, man. And what it's been able to do for you just to be surrounded in the right environment, the right people. Same with us. They support us. They support me, me, which is mind boggling to me, bro. That first form's like, hey, Marv. Yep, we got you. It's crazy to me, but, man, where if we want to follow along with you, you're gonna ask.

[Austin Montero]

This is a real time moment.

[Marvin Joelz]

Where can we do that? Because I follow you on ig, like that's my favorite. But it's you. You spell it out so that people can. Yeah, they're following the right person or that they get it right.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah. So it's my Instagram, I had to look. So this is real time moments. But it's Austin. So my first name, A U S T I N, double underscore. So underscore, underscore. And my last name, Montero. So M O N T E I R O.

[Marvin Joelz]

There was somebody with Austin underscore Montero already. Or did you just hit the double underscore on accident? Good for you, buddy. Good job.

[Austin Montero]

I got it.

[Marvin Joelz]

I like it. That's memorable. Yeah, dude. It's been a great to follow along. We're definitely gonna be following along. We totally support you and everything that you do. The world needs more people who figure out what you've figured out.

[Austin Montero]

Yeah.

[Marvin Joelz]

Because we're, you know, I'm starting to be an old timer people, so the next generation. You give me some hope that we got some people that are still trying to figure it out. Very cool as always. If you're curious about first form, you can just simply check out the link in our bio or the link below in the podcast description. And I think you can sign up there. If you spend over 75 bucks, they'll ship you whatever you're going to get to for free. I make the mistake of getting on there, there, clicking, and then all of a sudden looking at something else and looking something else. Pretty soon up to a couple hundred bucks, but so I get to 75 pretty easy, bro, when it gets there. So I really appreciate you joining us, man. It's been fantastic.

[Austin Montero]

Well, hey, man, the, the feeling is the same. It's like I said, to be able to be in this position that I'm in, God is great all the time.

[Marvin Joelz]

Yeah.

[Austin Montero]

You know, so I appreciate the time, I appreciate the hospitality and yeah, it's been awesome.

[Marvin Joelz]

Cool. Well, as always, you can check out more about in the [e-mail] Sign up for our news there. I write an exclusive article for that newsletter every month. You'll get some words from our sponsors on there. You'll get to see what they're up to as well and you'll grab the latest podcast episode. You'll get a rundown and a link to check it out from there as well. So very cool to sign up for and you know it comes to your inbox every month. Super easy. If you want to listen to the podcast in other places, we're available on Spotify and Apple. Podcast, podcast and other places. If you want to watch future versions, we're on YouTube as well. You can check that out at inthemix mj or just type in in the mix. Marvin, Joel's into the YouTube search bar and you can check us out from there. All right. For myself here in Nashville and Austin is here in Nashville as well. As always, asphalt is opportunity. We'll see you next time. Peace.

[Podcast Announcer]

Thanks for hanging out with us on in the Mix. For more on the world of Blacktop, head over to marvinjols.com and don't forget to follow Marvin on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for extra content, behind the scenes looks and industry insights. Be sure to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you got value from today's show, leave us a well worded five star review. It really helps more asphalt pros find us. Catch you next time on in the Mix.