← Kreatures Of Habit Podcast 
Kreatures Of Habit Podcast
Eric Hinman’s Daily Routine for Energy, Focus & Longevity | Kreatures of Habit
00:59:40
Loading summary
Transcript165 lines
- [00:00]
A
So for the person that's in that right now, who's struggling, who's. Who just cannot find the passion or the love to be in, you know, to, to, to move on a regular basis, like, what would you say?
- [00:11]
B
Yeah, I just think there's so many ways to do it and you have to find the one that you enjoy and you look forward to. And like, I don't look forward to every workout. Some of them are really hard, especially if I'm training for high rocks and I have to hit a track session, I dread that session. But most of the workouts I do really enjoy and I look forward to doing it. But I mean, it could be pickle ball, it could be tennis, it could be triathlon, it could be a 5K, it could be. There's so a high rocks race. There's so many different avenues and I think it's finding the one that you enjoy with the people you enjoy being around. And it's something where you don't have a high barrier to do it. You know, if the gym is an hour away, that's a pretty high barrier to so finding something where it's accessible. I mean, this is why I moved to Colorado, because I fell in love years ago with biking and running and I wanted to be in a place where the sun was shining all the time and there was massive run and bike community. Same with Austin. Like, there's a massive running and bike community here. Our house is, you know, right next to all of the trails. The Gym is a 4 minute bike ride for me. So I've designed all of these things so that they're really accessible to me. And yeah, I mean once you find those things you enjoy, make sure that you, they're accessible to you. An entrepreneur straight out of New York City, Michael Chernow. What's cracking?
- [01:39]
A
Thank you for coming back on the Creatures of It podcast.
- [01:41]
B
Thanks for having me, dude.
- [01:43]
A
Down in Austin had to, had to get my buddy Eric Hinman on the show. So I think we met in like late 2015 or 2016. Early 2016.
- [01:53]
B
Lululemon, baby.
- [01:54]
A
Lululemon. Lululemon. And this is before you were famous, dude. This is before I was famous. It was. This is before.
- [02:02]
B
In our niche.
- [02:02]
A
Yeah. And we've just had this like really cool 10 year long relationship of just like, you know, being curious. I think that's kind of really what it, it, it is most. Right. I think it's, it's. I think you're one of the most curious guys I know and also one of the most Committed guys. I know. And, and obviously this is a creatures to have a podcast. So curiosity and commitment are two, two values for sure that we, that we hold kind of near and dear. You've been doing a lot of, I mean, you, you, I feel like as far as your, your, your athletic journey, you've touched a number of different categories. So many different categories. Five, five time. Iron Man, CrossFit, Savage High Rocks, Maniac. Your strength is, you know, and, and I know that you've kind of structured your, your year in different blocks, right, Based on what you're training towards or what you're training for. Can you just kind of like walk us through your, your athletic journey? Because obviously you're way more than an athlete. You're an investor, you're a coach, a. You're a creator, you're a brand developer, you're an entrepreneur. I mean, you've got a lot of things in your life. Yeah, a lot of balls always in the, in the air, you know, and it's so interesting to watch. But I want to just talk about your certainty because I feel like people really lean on you. A lot of your audience not only leans on you for, for discovery, because I think that's what you've done very well, is like, you're the discovery guy. Like, if people really want to learn about this wild world of wellness that we're in, they just start knocking on your door and sort of looking and seeing what you're, what you're, what you're taking, what you're doing, things that you're, you know, you're focused on. So. But for athletics, where you. What is your years. Year look like now?
- [04:01]
B
Yeah, it's changed a lot over the years. I mean, at one point it was just working out for the aesthetic, and then it was working out to compete in ironman. And being 45 now, it's much more working out to feel good every single day. And I still like competing in sports. I'm competing in high rocks now, and I do the Leadville Mountain bike race every year, but ultimately most of the year training in a way that I can just back it up day in and day out and feel good. There's times where I'll go too far into one capacity, like too far into endurance, which I would say I'm kind of in that right now because I want to get a fast time at the Leadville Mountain Bike race. So I do more biking volume than I know feels good for me and, or allows me to do the other things at a high level. But you know, I'll, I'll put my foot in the arena for a few months of that. But I'm smart enough now to know that if I start feeling like, like, okay, back off on that, do some more strength training.
- [05:03]
A
What is feeling like? Tend to like, like how does that manifest in your, in your world?
- [05:10]
B
Yeah, I think there's a few, you know, the obvious one is you just aren't stoked about doing whatever it is anymore. You don'. Find passion and purpose within it. And I had that like a lot in my Ironman years when I was at the tail end of competing in Ironman where I was skipping races and I dreaded every training session but I was still just doing it because that was my identity as this high level amateur triathlete in a small upstate city. So I continue going through the motions for longer than I probably should have. So, you know, now I start to recognize that where I don't feel like biking today, I don't feel like running today, so I back off on it. And then the obvious one is like physically, you know, like if I run too many days in a row, I just don't feel good physically, meaning my lower back hurts, I'm achy, you know, I just, I feel like my cortisol levels are really high. I'm waking up in the middle of the night because I'm over trained. So you know, those are obviously telltale signs of overtraining in some capacity. And you know, again, being in our mid-40s, like you have to take note of that much more than we probably needed to take note of that when we were in our twenties.
- [06:19]
A
What are. So just walk me through kind of like what your day looks like today.
- [06:24]
B
Yeah, so wake up around 6:30 to 7, no alarm. I try to do work that I'm not going to get to later in the day, first thing in the morning just because I won't have as many messages coming in and people hitting me up through in the early morning hours. So 7 to 8:30 I'll usually do like some kind of creative content creation or reply to an email that I've been putting off for a long period of time. And then 8:30, I'm in the gym four to five days a week doing a mix of strength training and hy rox type conditioning. I still will do some CrossFit type workouts, but I've leaned more into hyrox conditioning over the last year or so. Some of that is I really enjoy competing in high rocks and some of it is so many of my friends now have just exited the CrossFit world and many of my friends are more into endurance sports now. So just kind of leaning into, you know, what my friend group is, is doing and also what I'm enjoying. And then I get done with the gym around 10, eat something and then usually have all my calls scheduled between 10:30 and 1:00pm each day. 1:00 clock hits. I usually want to get out in the sun and get some kind of aerobic activity in. So I'll either run or bike. Lately I've been going back and forth between the do the two. So one day I'll run, one day I'll bike, one day I'll run, one Day I'll bike. And usually they're like 45 minute to one hour running sessions. Zone two, zone three. So you know something I can back up day in and day out. Once a week I'll do a higher intensity running session. Like a track session? Yeah, not a sprint but like 1ks 800 meter intervals on the track. And then biking is usually 2 to 2 and a half hours. I get done with that, have another little work sprint, couple hours of calls or content creation and then around 5pm pretty much every single night we have a crew of people that come over and do contrast therapy. These are friends, these are people who've DM me on Instagram. These are you know, people who own business, businesses that you know, want to pitch me working together with them, investors, athletes, a whole mix of people. Last night we had two CrossFit games. Athletes over who were in town for like a week with a brand that they were working with. So you know, people message me all the time and I'm like, yeah, come over. Open door policy. Let's hit a contrast therapy session and then eat dinner, usually barbecue at the house. Although in Austin I've been going out to dinner a lot because the food is so damn good here. Wind down in the evening, watch a little YouTube, hang out with Sarah, walk our dog Glaze, hit the hay by 9:30, 10 o', clock, rinse and repeat.
- [09:00]
A
What top five favorite restaurants in Austin right now.
- [09:04]
B
There's so many good ones. Dai Dee is very good. Kind of a meat centric restaurant with a butcher shop inside of it. I go to Veracruz a lot. They have amazing breakfast tacos. The Migas taco is so good. Oh, I've been going to on Sunday nights they have this Korean fried chicken bucket that is the size of this microphone. It's massive. It's like 12 inches deep with fried chicken and Waffle fries. So I mean I eat hearty at dinner, but I eat pretty clean breakfast and lunch.
- [09:37]
A
What are you like, what is your breakfast and lunch?
- [09:39]
B
Smoothies, smoothie bowls, eggs, fruit, honey, breakfast and lunch most days. Oats. I'll do, definitely do oats. I love your new bars. I'll have your bars for a snack when I'm going out for a bike ride and then dinner, you know, I'll eat a hearty dinner, a steak, burgers, the Korean fried chicken and I usually some kind of dessert at night. Lately it's been frozen berries, honey and some heavy whipping cream before I go to bed.
- [10:06]
A
I think that that's been kind of on the roster for a while.
- [10:09]
B
It has been on the right. Yeah.
- [10:10]
A
You've seen you took down the amount of honey you were using.
- [10:15]
B
I did. And maple syrup because you were like a bear. I mean you were basically drinking out of the bottle.
- [10:20]
A
Oh my gosh. So, okay, in terms of how. So you've also built this massive sort of brand, brand business, right, where you work with a lot of brands, not only on the content creation side, but you really help these brands consult. You get the brands in front of the right people. What does that look like for you now? Like how, how do you go about deciding who you choose to work with? Because I would imagine for all emerging brands in the world of premium fitness, premium nutrition, performance nutrition, you're. You're at the top of a lot of brands lists in when thinking about who they'd like to work with on the, on the sort of content creator side for sure.
- [11:02]
B
Yeah. I mean I get name dropped a lot and that's how I get most of my brand deals now is just from brands I've worked with name dropping me to a new brand that's launching. But ultimately I like working with early stage wellness brands. So, you know, you're not going to see me working with the biggest brand in the world and me just being a billboard. I want to lend all of the business knowledge that I've amassed over the years to someone starting a company or growing an early stage company. So, you know, take like Sisu Sauna for example. You know, Pete came to me when he was just launching the company. I obviously love sauna culture. I've used saunas for eight years now doing contrast therapy. And he was a CrossFit athlete. He owned a partially owned a CrossFit gym back in Ohio. He was an ultra runner. Our first call was like two hours. Like we just hit it off and I'm like, I know I can help you tremendously, not only with the content creation because this is a huge part of my life and I'm literally going to be posting about it every single day and I'm going to have five to 10 people over every night using it. But I can introduce you to other ambassadors who can help move the needle for you. You know, I can share like strategy around how to move the, how to move the needle, how to create really good content that you know, that's not salesy but just allows people to see the experience of having a nice sauna in your home. You know, I can invest in, in a company, I can introduce you to other investors. If you need investment, I can introduce you to other brands that you can do cross promotion with. So I would say my Rolodex that I've amassed over the years is more valuable than the audience I have and more valuable than the content that, that I create. So I strategically make sure that I'm working with people where I can add a ton of value and that is generally an earlier stage wellness company.
- [12:55]
A
Interrupting this episode to share with you that Creatures of Habit finally launched our protein bar. It's called the Daily Bar. It's made with 20 grams of plant based protein, 3 grams of creatine. Yes, you heard that right. It also has 3 grams of creatine and it is incredibly tasty and clean as a whistle. All clean ingredients. Take this opportunity. Hop over to creatures of habit.com that's creaturesofhabit.com with a K and use code K O h p o d 20 at checkout for 20% off your first order. Back to the pod. Being a content, a successful content creator is, is an entrepreneur, right? I mean that's, that's for sure. That's what you are. And so the beauty of, of having a brand like yours, the Eric Hinman brand, which is ultimately your business, is that when the pandemic hits, there's no shutting the doors, right? When the stock market, you know, slows down, you're not having to lay off anybody. You are the brand, right? And you don't, it's not like you are the brand and you are the, the door hinge to a product, right? Because you, you, you don't own your own products business, you are the product. And so no one can take you away from you, no one can take your brand away from you. And you have been one of the most successful from, from people that I know in, in doing that and building that. And I'm sure that there's Been moments where you, me just check myself here, let me slow this down. Let me beat. Let me beef this up. Let me turn up the volume here. Turn the volume down here. I'm sure that you've, you've experienced all sorts of different stages and categories, but where you are right now, like, how do you feel about the business right now?
- [14:51]
B
It's changing a lot. I mean, where brands get ROI has changed tremendously. I feel like social media used to be much more about brand building and just organic posting and sharing, how you're using those products in your life. And now a lot of it is whitelisting, where brands are sponsoring content through the creator's feed so that they can see, you know, direct correlation of ROI on the ad spend that they're putting behind that creator. So, you know, now I feel like I'm shooting different content based on where it's being posted, who it's being posted to, who it's, you know, who the, who the brand is. And, you know, organically, I'll still be more of a brand builder where I just share how I use the C. Susana within my life. But then for the whitelist ad, they want a direct response ad where it's like, I had this problem, problem, here's the solution, and then here's the call to action. So I just feel like you have to be more dialed with, like, where the content is going so that you're providing a return on the brand's investment. It's still the wild West. You know, I still feel like many brands like, don't know who to work with, don't know what the right content is, don't know what to put paid social behind. And, you know, that's another hat that I wear where I go inform them of, hey, here's what's worked for this brand that has grown really fast. Like, this is who they worked with for paid social. These are the type of ads they ran. This is what they're doing for events, this is what they're doing for brand building. These are the creators that work well for brand building. Just kind of like helping them navigate the. This rapidly growing industry where marketing dollars just continue to flow into and take away from, you know, TV and radio and billboards and a lot of these things where you just can't really track the metrics, same way that you can track it with social media.
- [16:42]
A
What brands right now for the audience, Because I'm sure everybody's really interested in this. Like, what brands right now are you? Whether it's a. It's a, it's a consumable, a product, a service. What are you most excited about? Or what are the, you know, top 10 brands right now that you've really just sort of been sinking your teeth into?
- [17:02]
B
Yeah, I mean the brands that I really enjoy working with, they're putting on events, they're building a brand, they make you feel like you're part of something. They're building community. So Cane right now is doing an incredible job. They partnered with Diplos Run club. They do a lot of different community events. They're participants in run clubs and they go to marathons and they're just popping up all over, you know, 10,000. You and I have worked with 10,000 over the years and 10,000 is like really back in the mix, popping up at Hyrox events and they just got this 10,000 branded truck and they're going around New York City and doing assault bike challenges. So I really like brands that do the in person events and obviously they're getting awesome content out of that and those are the ones that I'm most bullish on that they're really doubling down on getting people to feel like they're part of something.
- [17:52]
A
What about supplements? What are you enjoying right now, supplement wise?
- [17:55]
B
I mean, creatine is something I've taken for a really long time and really believe in. So Create, I've worked with, I invested in Create. It helped raise money for Create. They're doing a great job with their paid social and you know, they're obviously riding this creatine trend up where you know, everyone now is talking about taking creatine instead of just the. The bodybuilder, the person to gain strength. The brands that I'll invest in oftentimes are like high quality revenue brands where it's a really sticky product. So let's say like a sleep supplement where it helps you sleep better. You know, if you take something and you sleep better from it, you're going to subscribe to that baby. So I like companies like that because if it's not a repeat spend or a repeat revenue company, it's going to get more and more costly for that company to acquire customers. So I like the repeat spend companies that have long term value subscription businesses where there's a feeling associated with the product that you're taking.
- [18:56]
A
Do you want a bar?
- [18:56]
B
Yeah, let's do it.
- [18:58]
A
What do you like?
- [18:59]
B
They're delish the peanut butter. Thanks.
- [19:03]
A
I.
- [19:03]
B
You crushed it with these. They taste great.
- [19:05]
A
Thank you, man. I think this is, I mean I obviously love meal 1. I love creature Sleep. I am deeply in love with the daily bar.
- [19:15]
B
I mean, bars are huge because they're so convenient. You know, the, the oatmeal, like, I have to prepare it the night before to have it the next day. A smoothie, I have to make it. Bars are just so convenient. And you can, you know, take it everywhere. You can have it in your gym bag, you can have it in your car. So it makes a lot of sense, you know, that people would subscribe to something like this to have them in all the different places when they might want to snack.
- [19:41]
A
I feel like they should be in. In all the gyms.
- [19:43]
B
Yeah. Airports, dude. I feel like airports are a massive opportunity for wellness brands.
- [19:51]
A
Brand building predominantly, though, you're not going to make money there.
- [19:54]
B
It costs so much to get it in.
- [19:56]
A
Costs a lot.
- [19:57]
B
Yeah.
- [19:59]
A
But I mean, if you get the.
- [20:02]
B
Customer from the airport and then they subscribe to it, that's it.
- [20:04]
A
It, you know. So you spend how much time now in Austin?
- [20:12]
B
We're going to do October through mid April in Austin and then we'll go back to Colorado mid April through October.
- [20:23]
A
And do you rent out your place in Colorado when you're here?
- [20:27]
B
Yeah, yeah. Renting it to a couple from 30A, which is a beautiful place in Florida on the Panhandle. They wanted to be there for ski season. It's a friend of a friend. Awesome people. So they're there for six months so they can ski in the wintertime. And then when we leave Austin, we'll rent our house here as well. The house. It's two houses that we have here. We rent one long term to my videographer. And then the house that Sarah and I are in will rent to a friend while we're back in Colorado.
- [20:57]
A
Do you have. So I know in Colorado there's, you know, the, the. I mean, it's called Iron Mountain, right? Like, yeah, Muscle Mountain. You have a really incredible sort of workout setup right. Right in your backyard. Yeah. Do you have that here as well?
- [21:11]
B
We do, yeah. You got to come over after this.
- [21:13]
A
Oh, really?
- [21:13]
B
Muscle Mansion is what we're leaning towards calling this one. You'll see it's a pretty big compound because of the two structures on one property. But we just got a full gym set up on the second level of it. So it's up on like a patio.
- [21:27]
A
What's in the gym?
- [21:28]
B
Full rack, Nike strength, full set of dumbbells, full set of kettlebells, a box. And then we have the Normatec zero gravity chairs with Normatec boots. A Red light panel, a tv. It's a vibe. And then down low, like in the lower level, the two houses create this atrium, and in the middle is a pool. Sisu sauna. We have a sisu cold plunge. We have an ice barrel. And then just like in Colorado, we have this whole big product se people can grab, like your bars are there, so people come, they can load up a bag and try a bunch of new things. And then we have four coolers, three branded coolers, and one regular cooler with all sorts of different drinks in it.
- [22:13]
A
You've been doing this for a long time, man. This, this, this fitness thing and, and, and sharing your life, sharing your life with the world, basically. What have, what have been some of the greatest learnings that you've had? Like, if you had to, if you had to write a summary, what would you say? Like, what. Where are you? Are you. What would you say? Some of the greatest learnings that you've had along this journey. Yeah.
- [22:38]
B
So I spent my 20s chasing opportunity, which I think is necessary. I went door to door selling insurance to businesses in upstate New York and a lot near where you live in the Catskills. And I was chasing. And by building an audience and by honing a skill and by being super passionate about one thing and exuding that positivity about it to, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, you know, now I've attracted so many opportunities into my life because people have been following along the way for years and years and years. So I think it's important, you know, as you're getting, going to build to hone a skill, you know, become known for something that you're really passionate about and you want to do day in and day out for years on end. And once you do that, you know, you can attract opportunities into your life. I'd say that's one of the biggest learnings because we didn't have social media in my 20s, so there wasn't this way to build an audience to attract opportunities. And then the other would be, whenever I go somewhere, I'm always amazed how many people reach out to me. You know, if I'm in Croatia, I have people in Croatia that follow me and they're recommending restaurants and inviting me to stay at their house when I'm in Croatia and recommending mending mountain bike trails. And I think that's so freaking cool. For every negative comment I get, there's a hundred of those positive ones. So, you know, it's been so worth it. Even though as your audience grows you get treated more and more just like a public figure. People don't have empathy and if they see an ad that I'm running, you know they're going to comment, to comment negatively on it and you develop a thick skin to that. But you know, generally it's like lots of people that, you know, reach out to me whenever I'm traveling through different places saying, hey, can we hit a workout together? I'm passing through Austin, can I hit a sauna session? And I mean, I've literally met tens of thousands of people because of social media, like in person, not just having a DM exchange like that. Many people have been to one of our homes or hit a workout with me from social media. So I think that's pretty cool.
- [24:45]
A
What, when you read a, when you read a negative comment, a hater comment, has your self judgment evolved over time or like, how do you, how do you, how do you, how do you appreciate that negative now?
- [24:59]
B
Yeah, it's definitely evolved over the time. I mean, it's crazy how one negative can offset 200 positives. You know, you read that one nasty comment and you're like, damn, that sucks. Like, why do they hate me so much? But you start to realize again that you're just treated as a public figure. You know, that same person would never say something to you in person in a grocery store. It's just because they saw something online and something triggered them and you know, they put their comment out there. So yeah, I've learned to just accept that at some point you become just a public figure. And when you're a public figure, empathy kind of goes out the window.
- [25:36]
A
What, what have you seen the most success in, and like, what, what have you seen trending in social media right now in terms of like, what people are most engaged with?
- [25:45]
B
Storytelling? I mean, I saw you just did a post recently sharing your story of, you know, when you were addicted to drugs and alcohol and getting into fights and you know, then just kind of the progression along the way. I think many people see someone on social, they're just like, damn, like, that'd be so cool to be them. But they don't know their backstory. You know, they don't know that, like, yeah, I was overweight in my 20s and I went door to door selling insurance to build this foundation to have the freedom and flexibility and, and money to start taking risks on my own. So I think storytelling and sharing the background of your story is, is always going to perform really well. And then like your opinion on current events, that's Definitely doing very well right now. Like, you know, the new food pyramid just came out. So to do a video on that new food pyramid, it's probably going to do really well because it's current event and Instagram seems to be really favoring people's opinions on current events at the moment. But I feel like the algorithm continually changes and you know, now it's favoring really good content. And I think that's good and bad because I think it's going to go too far with people trying to be too outrageous. That's what I see right now. And a, that's not replicable and oftentimes I wouldn't say that's real life. So I think we'll get to a point where everyone is just trying to be too outrageous.
- [27:11]
A
And when you say outrageous, like give.
- [27:13]
B
Us an example, you know, just like sharing a, you know, a scene that isn't realistic. You know, like let's, let's say Jake Paul for example, you know, like just thousands, millions of dollars on a private jet and of course it's going to get my interest and you know, it's cool he can do that. But you know, that's something outrageous that is just done to get your ATT and, and obviously so much of like the YouTube thumbnails, like you gotta be outrageous with a YouTube thumbnail to get people's attention. And I just think that everyone is trying to do that now and we're gonna get to the point where that becomes saturated and then it comes back down a little bit. I mean, I like adding value. I like doing things where I feel like I've added some value. And of course I'm gonna weave in brands that I work with into that. But ultimately like instead of just being outrageous, I wanna either add value or evoke some kind of emotion that's laughter or more often inspiration is the emotion that I'm hoping to evoke in people and just get people moving because it benefited me so much in life and I like sharing my story around how building my life around wellness protocols, you know, benefited me so much. And I just want to feel good every day and make other people feel good.
- [28:28]
A
Eric Hinman. Burgers or pizza? Burgers Goonies or Stand By Me. Ooh, Goonies Niece Sinatra or Biggie Smalls.
- [28:41]
B
Oh, Biggie Smalls.
- [28:43]
A
I just figured I'd break that up a little bit with a little quick fire. What does your wind down routine look like?
- [28:50]
B
So around like 8:30 every night I'll usually watch YouTube either with Sarah or you'll See, when you come over, we have this outdoor recovery area with the Normatex and I have a TV there. So I'll pop some Normatex on, do like 30 to 45 minutes of Normatex and just watch YouTube. And generally it's a documentary of some kind or a podcast. I like learning stuff. I'm not really into just watching TV for TV's sake. I don't really watch sports, so I enjoy watching other creators. And it could just be like a bike packing trip across Bolivia. I'm like, oh, that's cool, I want to do that. So I'll watch YouTube for a little bit. I avoid highly stimulating environments for the most part at all times. Like you'll very rarely see me at a late night concert or out at a bar. You know, I'll say yes here and there to those things, but I like to avoid anything like that because it affects my sleep. You know, your cortisol's high from doing something like that and then it's tough to, to get to sleep. And sleep is so important to me because my 7am is so much more important than my 9pm Like, I really look forward to my days. I look forward to the workout, I look forward to creating content and talking to people. And I want to have a lot of mental clarity and creativity and physical energy throughout the day. So yeah, I, I, I think the biggest key to sleep is sticking to a similar structure. Getting to bed around the same time, avoiding highly stimulating environments late at night, waking up around the same time.
- [30:19]
A
Do you have any sort of in the bedroom sleeping tools that you use?
- [30:24]
B
Yeah, I wear earplugs. These sleep pods from Oslo.
- [30:27]
A
I've been, Dude, I love those things.
- [30:30]
B
They're awesome.
- [30:30]
A
They freaking love those things. Things like I've been sleeping with an airpod in my right ear for years because I typically sleep on my left side and I always fall asleep to a podcast or an audio book. But the I, the fact that those things are so flat that you can lie on your ear, they're really comfy. I love those things. I'm like, I am a huge fan.
- [30:50]
B
Awesome sleep mask from Dream Recovery. I have one of your collabos with them, the creatures of habit sleep mask. But I've worn a sleep mask for like 15 years now. We set the temperature really cold, like 65 degrees. God bless my girlfriend Sarah that she, she allows that our dog does sleep.
- [31:06]
A
With us in bed. What?
- [31:08]
B
In black? Yeah, in bed. Right in between us. Literally. We have king size bed. So I'll put it Like a little pillow barricade up before I go to sleep so that I kind of block myself from blaze moving throughout the night so I don't wake up. But yeah, you know. Yeah. Controlling your environment is huge. Blocking out as much sound as you can possibly block out. Blocking out light and sleeping in a cool environment. We have really comfortable. I think they're attitude sheets that we sleep in.
- [31:35]
A
What are they?
- [31:35]
B
We have a chilly chili pad.
- [31:36]
A
Attitude. Attitude. So tell me about that.
- [31:39]
B
They're really comfy. I think they're cotton sheets.
- [31:42]
A
Okay.
- [31:42]
B
Super soft. Cool.
- [31:44]
A
And so you have a chili pad.
- [31:46]
B
Chili pad. Yep, yep. So can set our temperature in the bed at night, which. Mine's cold. Super cold.
- [31:52]
A
I have for the first time in a decade have stepped away from wearables. I wear my Garmin watch because I love my Garmin watch. I use it for running, I use it for, for timing. I use it for, you know, I do track my steps, which I probably don't need to do any anymore. But for the first time in my, in my, in the last decade plus, you know, I was a whoop guy for many, many years. Just, just, just I never not had one on. You know, I haven't worn it in about a month and I still have my whoop, you know, my whoop tan line.
- [32:23]
B
Yeah.
- [32:25]
A
I have felt immense freedom actually. Sure. So what, what is your thought on wearables?
- [32:30]
B
I have an aura ring. I like it for accountability. I do check my sleep score every morning when I wake up. I don't check many of the other things. I mean, I'll see what my resil is and see if there's any symptoms that I should be aware of. Like this morning I woke up and my heart rate variability was very low. It was 10. I think that's the lowest I've seen it. I hit a really hard leg session yesterday and then biked a couple hours and about 90 minutes into my two hour ride I was just like, wow, I'm not feeling it today. I toasted myself with that leg workout. So I kind of knew that I was going to be really inflamed this morning waking up. And sure enough it was that. I mean I'm feeling based like I've been doing this a long time. So I know if it's not a day to train hard or a day not to train hard. But I do enjoy looking at my sleep score. And then I wear, I have a bike computer to see my watts. I mean I do endurance stuff. Endurance stuff. I feel like it's more Necessary than just like strength training. Because if I'm going for a three hour ride, you know, I want to make sure that I'm not overdoing it with my watts early on in the ride to have it affect me later in the ride. And then, I mean again, I know how a lot of this stuff feels. But with running I like me monitoring my heart rate. So I know that, okay, I'm at 130 heart, 135 heart rate. I can maintain this for, you know, 90 minutes if I want to. But if I'm at 150 heart rate, like that's not something I can maintain for a long period of time. So I do monitor it and I like the tracking aspect of it, especially as I ebb and flow out of different things. Like if I'm ramping up for Leadville, I want to see my watts going up and my heart rate going down. If I'm training for Hy Rocks, I want to see my pace mile pace going down with my heart rate going down. So. So I like just seeing the progress within it.
- [34:12]
A
Do you have all of your races planned out for the year already?
- [34:15]
B
I have a lot of them planned out, yeah.
- [34:17]
A
What are you doing?
- [34:18]
B
Hyrocks Individual pro Phoenix in three weeks. Houston Individual Pro the end of February. I'm doing some gravel races I've really been enjoying. I was telling you when we were walking in, been enjoying my gravel bike. So I'm going to do this 100 mile gravel race in Fruda Colorado in April. Roll definitely doing Leadville mountain bike race. I love that one. That's probably my favorite thing I do every year now. That's in August. I'm considering doing the Leadville 100 trail run which I'm gonna have to make a decision here pretty soon if I do want to do that.
- [34:51]
A
Have you done a 100 mile?
- [34:53]
B
No. The longest I've gone is 44 miles rim to rim to rim Grand Canyon, which I'm going to do that again with a big crew in May. I'll do four pass loop which is 28 miles mile trail run between Aspen and Crested Butte in July or August. I honestly like doing a lot of these big outings with friends even more than the races now. Like I'm considering just putting together like a bike packing trip and inviting 10 friends to do that with me. I've been enjoying that more lately than like, you know, the serious racing. But I will still sign up for them because I feel like they're an obstacle that I have to overcome by Training for it.
- [35:30]
A
What do you think would happen if someone said to you like, no more. Yeah, what? Like if you had, if you, if there was an, if there was something that came up and it was just like, you know, no, no more of this.
- [35:47]
B
Like, yeah, it would be the worst news in the world. And I would find other skill based activities, cities that would yield, you know, purpose and passion. Like, I love making espresso. When you come over, I'll make an espresso. I just got a La Marzocco espresso machine.
- [36:05]
A
Nice.
- [36:05]
B
So, you know, I've been playing with different beans and grind size and like steaming the milk is an art in itself. And then you have latte art. So I've been enjoying that. I love grilling. So just like perfecting the perfect perfectly grilled steak. I would find other skill based activities to like pour my time into. But, but yeah, exercise is a huge component of my life.
- [36:28]
A
What do you think it is?
- [36:29]
B
I love progress. I love pushing myself and I love, I love progress and I can find progress in other aspects, but I do really enjoy the physical aspect of progress. And you know, I'm getting to a point where I can't get that in all disciplines anymore. Like, it's tough to gain strength now in my mid-40s. It's tough to get faster running running. I, I think I've probably run my fastest times, I've probably run my fastest marathons, my fastest Ironmans. I'm still progressing in cycling. I still continue to get more fit in cycling and specifically mountain biking because there's a skill based aspect to mountain biking. So I enjoy combining athletics with skill. Same with CrossFit. You know, I progressed in CrossFit, you know, up until about a year ago, just because I was progressing in the skill of CrossFit, like getting better at the movement patterns and getting better at gymnastics. So I really, really enjoy just progress in any.
- [37:25]
A
Do you think you'll, you'll probably fully exit the sport of CrossFit and not, not do the open and things like that and really sort of lean, lean deeper into the world of Hyrax?
- [37:39]
B
I don't know. No. I could see a world in which I get back into competitive CrossFit. I do miss a lot of the skill based aspects of CrossFit in the training that I'm doing now. I'm just so endurance fit at the moment. Moment kind of coming off of all of the Leadville training that I want to run with this endurance fitness while I have it, knowing that for me that's Mentally hard to shift into the endurance. Physically it comes pretty easy just from my years of doing Ironman. But mentally, you know, it's tough to ride for five hours, it's tough to do a 90 plus minute run and right now I'm in that mindset of like it feels like nothing, you know, five hour ride, not a big deal, I'll do it. So while I'm in that mindset, I want to tackle a few of these other endurance things that I've been wanting to do. But I feel better when I do less endurance volume and more strength training and more like accessory work and skill based stuff. And that's CrossFit. The thing I don't like about CrossFit is CrossFit workouts or CrossFit competition. I like training for CrossFit, but I'm not as big of a fan of like the CrossFit competitions when you're snatching moderately heavy weight with your heart rate super elevated or you know, doing deadlifts at a heavy weight when you know, you know your form is compromised. But I Enjoy training for CrossFit.
- [39:02]
A
I have been, I, you know, very similar to you, although not nearly as, as, as intense as you are. In the mindset of competition though you said that competition isn't really what it's about for you these days is necessarily. But I have really sort of changed my whole philosophy on, on training and.
- [39:24]
B
I have.
- [39:26]
A
Similar to you. Like I, I, I want to train to feel good. There's a big part of me that also really, really needs to look good. Like I really enjoy looking good shamelessly. But in terms of like, like I'll do two or three high rocks this year for fun, complete fun, fun. I, you know, I'm not going to put all this energy into training for it. I love strength training, banging the weights around and I love sprinting. I love those two things. Those are the two things that I feel like if I can do those two things, if, if, if everything else was ripped away from me, if I could, if I could do 10:45 second sprints with a minute and a half light jog in between and bang the weights around for an hour and a half, five days a week, like for the most part, you know, I feel pretty damn good. I'm getting, if I, if I get, if I get those 10,000 steps a day, like I just feel good. Yeah, I feel good. My body, you know, I don't lift heavy at all anymore. Like I have no desire to pull £415, £405 off the floor anymore. Like just no interest. Just because every time I do it.
- [40:41]
B
Yep, you're out of commission for a few months.
- [40:43]
A
I'm out? Yeah, I'm out. Not for maybe not for a few months but like every time I squat heavy or deadlift conventional deadlift heavy, it impacts every other workout for the rest of the week for me.
- [40:55]
B
Yep, yep.
- [40:56]
A
It just does. And I don't know if that's because I've been doing it for too long and my body's just basically like chill or if I'm just getting older. Right. And I'm just not recovering as fast as faster.
- [41:07]
B
Yeah.
- [41:08]
A
And I've tried the BPCs and the peptides. It just doesn't work on that stuff. I mean maybe some people have had success with it. I certainly have not. Like it's not, I've tried BPC157, I've jammed it into my back. I've had knee issues. I tried it in there. Maybe my body just doesn't take it the way other people have. But I just don't use it because it doesn't really help me recover as fast. Fast as, you know people say that it helps you recover.
- [41:35]
B
Yeah.
- [41:36]
A
So you know, I, I, I really have found a groove in training early in the morning. It's like, like dude, I, I, I love getting up in the morning at 5:15 is because my kids wake up and I want to be there for them but I really love getting up early and throwing back pre workout and going into the gym. Like I love it dude, I genuinely like, I love it same and I just guys like you and I are so lucky to have that love. Not like does not need love. You know, some people are like I gotta go to the gym. I'm like dude, I get, get, I, I'm, I get to go to the gym. And I know that you have that same passion for it.
- [42:32]
B
Whether it is.
- [42:38]
A
Self serving or life enhancing or. Whatever it is, there is this undeniable love and passion that you and I both have and have had for a long time for this world of movement.
- [42:56]
B
Agree more.
- [42:56]
A
What would you say to the person listening right now?
- [42:59]
B
Yeah.
- [43:00]
A
Who is. It's the beginning of the new year. Right. You know, for years people roll their eyes. For the last whatever 10 years people been like New Year's resolutions, New Year smolutions don't make New Year's resolutions. I actually disagree. Like set, set a goal. Give yourself the, give yourself the. The like hold yourself accountable to something. Why the not, why wouldn't you not Ten things, but something, you know, so for the person that's in that right now, who's struggling, who's. You just cannot find the passion of the love to be in, you know, to, to move on a regular basis. Like, what would you say?
- [43:43]
B
Yeah, I just think there's so many ways to do it and you have to find the one that you enjoy and you look forward to. And like, I don't look forward to every workout. Some of them are hard, especially if I'm training for high rocks and I have to hit a track session. I dread that session. But most of the workouts I do really enjoy and I look forward to doing it. But I mean, it could be pickleball, it could be tennis, it could be triathlon, it could be a 5K, it could be. There's so many high rocks race. There's so many different avenues, and I think it's finding the one that you enjoy with the people you enjoy being around. And it's something where, where you don't have a high barrier to do it. You know, if the gym is an hour away, that's a pretty high barrier. So finding something where it's accessible. I mean, this is why I moved to Colorado, because I fell in love years ago with biking and running and I wanted to be in a place where the sun was shining all the time and there was massive run and bike community. Same with Austin. Like, there's a massive running and bike community here. Our house is, you know, right next to all of the trails. The Gym is a 4 minute bike ride for me. So I've designed all of these things so that they're really, really accessible to me. And yeah, I mean, once you find those things you enjoy, make sure that you, they're accessible to you. And also know that, like, it, it may not be forever. Like, I played tennis for a year. I love tennis. I thought I was going to play tennis the rest of my life. And then Athlon. That was when I was first getting back into shape in my late 20s. I was like 27 or 28. And my business partner at the time and my software company, he and I would play five days a week for like 90 minutes. And I got pretty at good tennis. And then I found triathlon. And then I was like, oh, this is, I like this even more. And then I, you know, was kind of one foot in, one foot out of tennis, and then both feet into triathlon, both feet out of, out of tennis. And I've done that a number of times where I'll like, start doing something, recognize that I really enjoy it, and then take both of my feet out of what I was doing before.
- [45:44]
A
I love you, bro. I love you, man. I do.
- [45:47]
B
So good hanging with you always.
- [45:48]
A
You know, it's like I look across the table and I say, you know, we don't get to hang out a lot, right? We live in different places. You're busy as hell, I'm busy as hell. But it's like, we've both evolved so much since we first met, you know, and we've worked with a lot of the same people and we've done a lot of similar things. Um, and every time I see you, I feel like, you know, we hang out all the time. And so I think that that's like, it's just. It's relationships. And you have been one of the most inspirational people for me in. In regards to building quality relationships, you know, And I always share this story that when I read it for the first time. When you shared, like, you know, things that you try to do on a daily basis. This is years ago, you said, you know, I try to meet at least one new person every single day. Like just one new person. And that evolved to inviting people over to your house, just random, randomly, having, like, I can't tell the amount. Like, the times that I've been to your house, where you're literally meeting people for the first time that are just showing up at your door, you know, and you. And the fact that you're just open like that, and the. I. I just believe that you have a level of confidence, comfort with the people that are that gravitate towards you, where you just don't believe that there's going to be some real wackadoos. Have you experienced any real wackies?
- [47:09]
B
I really haven't, no. You know, because again, like, I don't have a following from fame. It's just from putting my life out there day in and day out for years. So generally, the people who message me, they're people who are very interested in hitting hard workouts or going on long runs or, you know, sitting in a really hot situation on us.
- [47:29]
A
I. I remember being at the Running man, the first running man event, which was arguably, if not the best, one of the best, was awesome. Such a great event. And there was probably a thousand people there, and I met so many people, but a lot of. A lot of people knew me and, you know, from social media, and I knew people from social media that I had never met in person. But there was something that was so Obvious at that event that I don't know how common would be outside of this world of people just trying to be better. Right. Like the world of that, that we spend a lot of our time in is this world where people genuinely just are looking to be better. Right. And it's not like, oh, I've got to be the best. It's just like, no, no, like I'm trying to grab the bull by the horns and live my life to the, to the, the, to the, to the. To the greatest potential it has. Right. Like every day is an opportunity to just hold on and, and, and, and push forward.
- [48:27]
B
Right? Yep.
- [48:28]
A
Thousand people in the middle of nowhere. There was not. I didn't. I, I must have met everybody on. At that, at that event. There was not a single attitude at that event. Not a single person that wasn't just stoked and fired up and like, like my minded. And I left my bag with my wallet, my keys, my. All my IDs. Like, I literally left it on a chair in the middle of a field with thousand people walking around. I left it there for hours and I would go back to it every once in a while. I just make sure, dude, like the world that we, that we live in are. There's such great people, such great humans.
- [49:10]
B
Agree. 1% hundred. 100%.
- [49:11]
A
You know, it's like, it's rare. It's, it's, it's. And, and I don't know how we, how we get more people to, you know, I think, I think we're, we're cultivated in the United States of America, groomed in the United States of America to believe that you have to touch it in order for it to bring happiness. You have to be able to touch it. That that's like what we're like as kids. You know, growing up in the 80s, it was like things are.
- [49:46]
B
Yeah.
- [49:46]
A
Joy. Right. It has to be visible to the eye and, and, and something that you can touch that, that is, that is potential typically man made of some sort. And, and like we also believe that success has all to do with like.
- [50:08]
B
Money, cars, the house. Yeah.
- [50:12]
A
And I just don't know how we can change that because it's not true. It's not true. Yeah.
- [50:20]
B
I mean that was what I realized in my late 20s, that I was just chasing the wrong things. But when I went for a run, I felt so good after the run. And I'm like, well, why am I just buying more suits and ties and trying to make more money when I feel myself my best after I go on a Four mile run and a month later I can do a five mile run.
- [50:39]
A
People, you know, I used to like, kind of like be ashamed when I first started to realize that too. After 10 years of it, being in the restaurant business, you know, opening businesses and really, you know, I'd never done.
- [50:51]
B
It like for the money.
- [50:52]
A
The money was never like a, was like the North Star for me. But, but ultimately being the business, like being in the business was, was very, very important to me.
- [51:02]
B
You know, show that you're there. Yeah. Show that you're working hard. Show that you're committed to it.
- [51:08]
A
Right. And I think in the beginning that that is potentially necessary. Right? But, but there is a, there is a point where it becomes totally adverse to like a lifestyle that anybody would truly want to live. Right. And you know, when you speak to a lot of these businessmen that are like the generation above us in their 70s, right. Um, specifically in my industry at the time, in the world of restaurants, I, anytime I'd get to sit down with one of these older guys, one of these OGs, I'd be like, all right.
- [51:36]
B
So like, what's the thing?
- [51:37]
A
Just tell me just one piece. And nine out of ten of them say, spend more time with your family than I did. You know, spend more time with your friends than I did. And I think finally now like we, we may like, I used to be embarrassed to be like, yeah, you know what, like when I started Creatures and habit, of course. I mean, I work when I, when it's necessary, I, I work into the night. But like today I don't, I, I, I, I start work at 8:30 in the morning and I am done at 5:30 and, and that's it. I work eight hours a day, sometimes nine. There's always an hour in there where I go out for my walk and I have breakfast with my family every morning. I have dinner with my family every Saturday, single night. And 10 years ago I would have been ashamed to say that because of my perception of what the world would categorize me as is like, you know, not a hard, not enough of a hard worker.
- [52:34]
B
You know, same. I think we're all so concerned with the public perception of success instead of are we fulfilled, are we waking up in the morning passionate about what our day is going to be? Did we design our perfect day? And you know, yeah, I would argue that many things are above and beyond the business in your perfect day. You know, it's getting outside being in nature, having incredible conversations with people, spending time with your family, you know, progressing in skill Based activities that you really enjoy. Eating quality food with really good people. Like, there's just so many things that I put above and beyond making more money and building my business that I fill my day with. And I would argue that your workday, a lot of it is probably based around your passions. Even the conversations that you're having with people. Like, these are people that you enjoy having conversations with. It's not like you're trying to sell someone something that you don't really care about just to make money for yourself. Like, you're doing something that's very purposeful for you and having conversations that you find a lot of purpose in.
- [53:36]
A
I'm working right now.
- [53:37]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [53:39]
A
I'm working. I'm working right.
- [53:41]
B
Well, I mean, this is cool because something like this, you know, once you have an audience, just like money, the compounding effect of it is incredibly incredible. So that's what I always tell young people is like, figure out things you can build. Now that in your 40s, you know, it's just gonna. You're gonna be leveraged. You're gonna have massive leverage from what you built in your 20s, whether that's, you know, financial freedom, residual income or real estate portfolio connections, knowledge, skills. Like, man, build those babies up in your 20s, because in your 40s, you're going to be able to leverage that.
- [54:14]
A
A ton of Eric Hinman. Sauna or cold plunge?
- [54:19]
B
O God. I have to answer this both ways. If I only could do one for physical benefit, I would pick cold plunge because I feel like in three minutes you get so many benefit. But I love the sauna because of the sauna conversations I get to have with people. So that's a really, really tough one. I guess I would say sauna because I get the physical benefits from sauna and I get that community time, awesome conversations, meeting new people. So it checks multiple boxes.
- [54:48]
A
Running or biking?
- [54:50]
B
Biking. I love biking. I love running too, but I feel like biking has consistently been one of my favorite things in the world. And running I kind of go in and out of. Like I love running right now, but five months from now I might not love it because I'm doing too much strength training.
- [55:05]
A
H. Ketchup or mustard?
- [55:08]
B
Ketchup for sure.
- [55:08]
A
I love ketchup.
- [55:09]
B
Ketchup.
- [55:10]
A
Sweet potato mash or regular potato mash?
- [55:12]
B
Sweet potato mash.
- [55:13]
A
Austin or Denver? Oof.
- [55:15]
B
God, that's a real tough one. I think I told you this when we were walking in Colorado specifically is more fulfilling for me, but Austin is a more fun city than Denver is. A fun city. They both offer massive benefits, and they're two of my favorite places in. In the world. If I could only pick one, I'd probably pick Colorado just because of how much I enjoy the views, the biking, and many of my closest friends are in Colorado.
- [55:41]
A
Would you rather take a bath in boogers or cow poop?
- [55:46]
B
Oh, cow poop. Boogers. Just nasty boogers.
- [55:54]
A
Boogers, man.
- [55:55]
B
I mean, I've stepped in cow. I've probably got cow all over my body before, so that won't be too bad.
- [55:59]
A
I have, you know, I have stuff sons 10 and 8. And I'm so grateful that my sons don't eat their boogers, but some of their friends do. Yeah. And when some of their friends that come over throw up in your mouth that just eat their boogers, man. Eating boogers is just, just. It's just not a thing, you know? No, dude, this is so much fun. I. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for our friendship. I'm grateful that you came. Came to see me. I'm so stoked that I'm in Denver. I'm in Austin for another six days where I get to hang and come over for some sweat sessions. And I think we'll have some people over on Saturday, right, to just. I don't know what we'll do, but it's not like a formal thing necessarily, but I got a bunch of bars coming to your house and, you know.
- [56:45]
B
Man, love everything you're doing, man, and appreciate our friendship.
- [56:51]
A
Friends, family. You know Eric. Of course, you know Eric. You listen to this podcast, podcast, you know Eric, and you know, he's. He's easily, easily searchable at Eric Kinman. He's built a really, really cool YouTube channel that I've been really, really watching and, and seeing how he's been building that over the last year or so. It's been really interesting for me. It's something that I haven't done. And so I'm looking at Eric's YouTube, so you should check out Eric's YouTube because it's really, really cool. The guy is just, you know, he's just the total package and, and, and a good friend and, and. And a really inspiring person. That's. That's really, really helped a lot of. A lot of dudes, like, helped a lot. A lot of dudes sort of find their way. And so if you don't follow him, you should follow him at erichinman all across, all platforms. I think he's Most active on YouTube and Instagram and yeah, just like, you know. Share this podcast Share this podcast with someone who you think can use a little, a little push in New year. Someone that wants to just hear from a guy who has really been successful in a lot of, in a lot of areas in life, but make sure that his health and his wellness and his relationships are number one priority. Right? Like he's been successful in business in a number of different industries, but if you look at a 45 year old guy that looks like him, you know that this guy is like putting his, putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to taking care of himself and, and, and making sure that is his priority. And I think in the new year exposing that lifestyle is really important because a lot of the times we tend to put ourselves at the bottom of the totem pole. And by the way, that doesn't benefit anybody, specifically you or the person that does that. But like us being at the bottom of our totem pole means that we're not showing up in a way that everybody is going to appreciate our existence distance. You know, being a father and a husband, business owner, you know, like I want to show up, I want to show up as the guy who is the top of his totem pole because everybody appreciates that guy a lot more. Not, not in a conceited, cocky, selfish way. In a way that says, oh, this dude sacrifices and takes care of himself and he's showing up in the way that, that, that people appreciate. So share the podcast. That's the rent I ask you to pay for, for this son of a. And yeah, five star rating in a review wouldn't hurt if you're feeling super generous. I love you. I appreciate y'. All. Until the next one. Peace.