Stronger with Don Saladino: "Life After The NFL with Christian Ponder"

Date: February 3, 2026
Host: Don Saladino
Guest: Christian Ponder (former NFL Quarterback, entrepreneur, founder of The Post)

Episode Overview

This episode explores the journey of former NFL quarterback Christian Ponder—starting with his Texas football roots, through his college and professional career, and into his transition from athlete to entrepreneur. Don Saladino and Christian discuss the deep identity shift athletes experience when leaving sports, the genesis and culture of The Post (a community/workspace for athletes), the changing landscape of youth sports, and the importance of strength—in physical, emotional, and community terms. Listeners posed questions on post-NFL training and injury recovery, getting grounded, candid answers from both men.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Christian’s Football Journey & Texas Beginnings

• Football as a Family Legacy

  • Christian grew up in Texas where "football is a religion." His father played at Florida State and in the NFL/CFL, deeply influencing Christian’s athletics and work ethic.
  • Neighborhood culture: “We were always outside… before the video game generation. We were outside. If we were inside, we were bored out of our minds.” (Christian, 04:01)
  • Early days: Not a prodigy—“I was a mediocre quarterback… B team in middle school” (04:41).

• High School and Dad's Support

  • His high school was large (5A, suburbs of Dallas), intense football culture à la “Friday Night Lights” (05:10–05:52).
  • His father personally assembled Christian’s highlight DVDs, sending 120 to college recruiters: "Without him, I wouldn't have received any offer or attention." (07:18)

• College Years at Florida State

  • Felt overlooked as a recruit, redshirted freshman year, considered transferring before new staff (Jimbo Fisher) arrived.
  • On early struggles: “I was fifth or sixth on the depth chart and basically just felt like… this is not what I was told. I was having a rough time and highly discouraged.” (08:00)
  • Turning point: Fisher called Christian out as a standout after spring practice—"When you have someone that believes in you, that goes such a long way." (09:49)
  • “I would not have been a starter at Florida State, I would not have been in the NFL… without Coach Fisher.” (10:15)

2. The NFL Experience and Identity

• Rookie Reality Check

  • Drafted in 2011 by the Minnesota Vikings—blown away by speed, size, complexity: “Your margin of error just shrinks… it’s a whole new level.” (10:37–11:30)
  • Entering a locker room with a 12–13 year age gap from veterans, some of whom he’d idolized as a kid.

• Memorable 'Welcome to the NFL' Moment

  • “First tackle I ever had in a full game was Brian Urlacher… That was like, holy crap… a guy I was watching in high school.” (13:28)

• Career-Defining Injury and Transition

  • Described injuries and the pressure/stress of being a young QB, culminating in an arm injury that essentially ended his time as starter.
  • Pressure in year three: “I put so much pressure on myself… I sucked. I did not play well that year.” (15:10)
  • After being replaced by Teddy Bridgewater, Christian became a journeyman, then left the league (last year: 2016).

• On the Emotional Toll of Leaving Football:

  • “Here you grew up your entire life playing and… that's what defines you… and at a certain point, it's over.” (18:28)
  • Recognizes two paths post-sports: pivot and thrive using learned traits, or struggle without that defining purpose.

3. Building The Post: From Athlete to Entrepreneur

• Why The Post? Filling a Void for Ex-Athletes

  • Sports community loss hits hard, not just structure but identity: “You belong to this amazing community… and suddenly, like, the doors are closed when you’re done playing.” (21:51)
  • The Post (NYC flagship at 23rd and 5th/6th) aims to rebuild that for “lifelong athletes”—fostering drive, humility, and accountability as people focus success on business, not sport.

• Maintaining Athletic Mindset in Business

  • “Don’t stop being an athlete. Don’t shed all those skill sets and that mindset… You’re just going to wear a different uniform.” (24:41)
  • The Post’s community is high-achieving, humble, and collaborative. Decision to keep membership interviews for cultural fit (“the no douchebag filter”) (31:51).

• On Success and Adversity in Entrepreneurship

  • Business is “a roller coaster”—one day brilliant, the next facing failure:

    “As athletes… you understand that the hard thing is where you get better… when things aren’t going well, that’s where you can figure out, okay… how do I learn from what’s not going well to pivot?” (29:39)

  • Initial mistake: Going for big flashy events lost intimacy and club culture—returned focus to smaller, connective events.

• Feedback Culture & Learning from Sport

  • “I crave feedback. I need feedback. Because how else are you supposed to know how to get better?” (32:55)
  • Emphasizes how sports/athletes are forced to embrace accountability, tough truth, and honest feedback in ways that can slip in regular workplaces. (34:35–36:21)

4. Youth Sports: "Let Kids Be Kids"

• Rise of Specialization and Parental Pressure

  • “Youth sports, like specializing at a young age, is terrible. The data proves it. Burnout, overuse injuries… parents getting their kids preemptive Tommy John surgery at 13.” (40:41)
  • Critiques private equity’s role in monetizing youth sports and driving this pressure:

    “Private equity is buying all these clubs, teams… pouring in money into camps… creating pressure with the narrative: ‘If your kid wants a chance, you need to spend $5,000 a year to be on this team.’” (42:21)

• Purpose of Youth Sports

  • “Youth sports is character development. That is the number one goal. Playing a bunch of different sports, letting kids have fun—that is what it's about.” (41:11)
  • Later, as kids mature, single-sport specialization can make sense if driven by true passion.

• On Competition, Rewards, and Parenting

  • “When you remove the reward system… with participation trophies… what are we teaching?” (37:39–39:21)
  • Both Don and Christian share experiences pushing back on “everyone gets a trophy” mentality and steering their own children toward effort and resilience.

• Parental Involvement Gone Too Far

  • “Parents, stay off the field… These are eight-year-old boys, what are we doing?” (48:54)
  • Give kids agency but don’t live through them: “Are they doing this for their kids, or for themselves?” (48:54)

5. Listener Q&A: Post-Career Training & Injury Recovery

• Courtney asks about post-NFL training: (50:18)

  • Christian: “The biggest shift for me was going from training for performance to training for health… That like a 20-minute workout is okay… you don’t have to spend two hours.” (50:36–52:43)
  • Hates working out just for vanity or ego: “When you're at Equinox, it's all about that… what I realized is like, no, I can't stand working out for vanity… it's more about, how do I maintain healthy.” (50:36–53:10)
  • Goal now: “I want to be an active grandparent… playing the long game.” (52:43)
  • Accountability shift: Creating his own accountability partnerships now—no more structured team workouts. (53:10)

• Josh from Toronto asks about upper-body cardio post-knee surgery: (53:41)

  • Christian: “Tons of [hand] bike… battle ropes… look, with knee injuries, tons of stuff to do upper body that wouldn’t jeopardize your knee.” (54:15–54:46)
  • Don: Endorses the approach, highlights the science on cross-education and healing responses: “If someone busts their left elbow… I’m training their right arm… there’s carryover, visualization; studies show you can get stronger training the other side of the body.” (54:46)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On coaching and belief:

  “When you have someone that believes in you, that goes such a long way.” — Christian Ponder (09:49)

• The NFL transition:

  “Your margin of error just shrinks… you step on the field and… a grown man with teenage kids is lining up across from you.” — Christian (10:37)

• Locker room nostalgia:

  “You talk to so many athletes… ‘What do you miss most?’ And the most common answer you'll get is the locker room, the team… just, in other words, for community.” — Christian (21:51)

• Post-sport purpose:

  “Don’t stop being an athlete. Don’t shed all those skill sets and that mindset… you’re just going to wear a different uniform.” — Christian (24:41)

• On business adversity:

  “The entrepreneur journey is a roller coaster… One day, this is gonna be so successful… the very next day, we’re not gonna make it past next week. Scary.” — Christian (29:39)

• Feedback & truth in growth:

  “If I’m offended by what’s true, that’s a me problem, not a you problem for giving me the feedback.” — Christian (35:03)

• Youth sports critique:

  “We’re losing sight of the purpose of sports… we need to look at it as character development… that is the number one goal.” — Christian (41:11)

• Parenting reality:

  “Are they doing this for their kids, or for themselves?” — Don (48:54)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Texas Football, High School Years: 03:32–06:28
• Recruitment and Support from Dad: 06:47–07:39
• Redshirt Challenges at Florida State: 07:44–09:49
• NFL Rookie Experience: 10:26–13:28
• First NFL Play: Tackled by Brian Urlacher: 13:05–13:50
• Career-Impacting Injury & Leaving the NFL: 14:39–18:28
• Transition & Building The Post: 21:51–26:46
• Culture & Community at The Post: 24:41–28:43
• Entrepreneurship & Adversity: 29:26–32:31
• The Role of Feedback: 32:55–36:21
• Youth Sports, Specialization, PE Influence: 40:37–42:21
• Purpose of Youth Sports: 41:11–44:06
• Listener Q&A on Training Post-NFL: 50:07–54:46

Tone and Takeaways

Stronger with Don Saladino continues its mission of exploring what it means to be strong from all angles—physical, emotional, communal, and in personal growth. In this candid, warm, and relatable episode, both Don and Christian are honest about struggles with identity loss, adversity in both sports and entrepreneurship, and the hard lessons and rewards of building meaningful communities in business and family. Christian’s reflections on youth sports, community, and post-sports purpose offer practical advice for athletes, parents, and anyone navigating major life changes.

Listener action: If you want to share your own experience or ask future guests a question, you can call the show at 855-348-3546.

Summary by [Podcast Summarizer AI]