Ernest Hemingway is both an icon of American literature and widely considered to be the epitome of a man's man. On top of being an accomplished hunter and fisherman, Hemingway was a boxer. He served in World War I as an ambulance driver, and was present at Normandy on D-Day during World War II as a war correspondent.

Hemingway is also known for his alcoholism and the tragedy of his life. He was married five times, and he died by his own hand.

What many people don't know, is that Hemingway suffered from 9 concussions throughout his life. This is in addition to being hit in the head countless times as a boxer, and being in proximity to numerous explosions during his service in World War I.

This created a downward spiral that eventually left Hemingway unable to write a sentence.

With obvious parallels between the life of Hemingway and those of so many Veterans, I thought it important to discuss this Hemingway's TBI's on this podcast.

On March 3-5, 2022, Veterans and supporters from across the country got together in the Houston National Forest for the inaugural Warrior Angels Foundation 4x4x48. We ran 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 hours through the forest, while camping. Along the way, we went through healing rituals with the Four World's International Institute and Chief Phil Lane of the Dakota and Chickasaw Nations. It was an amazing and transformative experience.

Learn more at http://www.warriorangelsfoundation.org.

In a time when freedom of speech and public get togethers are being made illegal in formerly free places around the world, it's more important than ever that you get up there and speak your mind. Comedy is one way of doing that.

I've contacted some of the best companies out there in fitness, nutrition, tactical sports, business development and other areas to provide you with discounts. If you purchase from these sites, Warrior Soul will recieve a commission that will go toward producing the podcast.

Whatever you need, you can find it on Amazon.com. If you want to support the podcast every time you buy something on Amazon, simply click this banner, bookmark the URL, and use that bookmark whenever you’re going to buy something.

If you take supplements of any kind, buying them at BulkSupplements.com is a great way to save money and ensure that you’re only getting the best product on the market.

A subscription service that brings delicious cured meat to your door every month? Sounds like a great deal to me!  Seriously, they’ve got some great stuff, and I am addicted to it!

This is a monthly subscription box that brings tactical and outdoor gear to your door every month. Seriously, the knives you get in this box alone make the deal worth it!

Most protein bars taste like carboard (yes Quest, I’m talking about you too). These don’t. They’re ridiculously delicious, and they’ve got some great ingredients in them.

If you’re looking to start your own YouTube channel, or if you are currently a YouTube creator, you need Tube Buddy. This app will help you with keyword research that will help you to get your videos noticed, and it cuts the time you spend posting videos in half. Absolutely essential for any creator.

If you plan on starting an online business, you’re going to need a landing page. Clickfunnels is simply the best landing page software out there.

Do you have a company you would like us to promote? Email me at chris@warriorsoulagoge.com and let's set up a chat.

We live in an age where anybody with a nice physique and a smile can jump on social media and call themselves a "coach."

There’s plenty of under-qualified people making money hand over fists selling fitness programs, success plans, and courses to people who don’t know any better. Often, the advice they give is inadequate, wrong, or downright dangerous.

So I understand why you’re probably coming here with a skeptical mind. Most clients who come to me have had at least one bad experience with another coach, and they all have the same question for me…

How am I different from the crowd of other fitness and self-help coaches on the internet?

I could wow you with transformation pics of past clients or tell you about some of the amazing people I’ve worked with, like CT Fletcher or Mike Rashid. I could also wow you with pictures of my physique or videos of me lifting heavy weight…here’s a few of those:

but if you’re really the client that I want to work with, you’re smart enough to know that none of that really matters.

These people are not you. They have different athletic backgrounds, different genetics, and different lives. Additionally, transformation pictures don’t tell the whole story. The lighting can make all the difference, and so can the Instagram filter.

The main question in your mind should be: “can this guy create a plan for me that will make me disciplined and consistent enough to get the best results for me?”

And here’s the god’s honest truth: I don’t know…yet.

To determine if I’m the right coach for you, and if you’re the right client for me, we need to sit down and have a talk. I’ll need to ask you some questions about your life and lifestyle, and you’ll probably want to ask me some questions to see if I really know my stuff.

So let's set up a call.

But before you do, here’s an idea of what you’ll get into if we work together.

My coaching includes:

• Customized meal plan and training

• Supplementation planning

• Lifestyle planning and scheduling

• Mindset coaching

• Business, career, and relationship advice

• One phone call and unlimited texts each week

• Weekly training and nutrition adjustments as needed

I didn’t get in this to become a life coach, but I found that the only real way to find lasting success for my clients was to go beyond just handing them a meal plan and some workouts and hoping for the best.

Considering the level of service you’ll get, you’ll find that my prices are extraordinarily reasonable.

Above anything else, I am looking for relationships. I want to be a lasting influence for positivity in your life. I thrive off of making other people successful and happy.

So if you’d like to explore these possibilities, book a call with me at https://go.oncehub.com/WarriorBusinessConsultation

Picture this, you’re rolling through your local big-box store with your girlfriend. She’s looking at all the great patio furniture and the plants.

You’re rolling your eyes a bit because you want to get out of there as quickly as possible, but she just drags the shopping on and on.

But then you catch it out of the corner of your eye. It’s a stack of dog food sized sacks of whey protein. “8lbs for only $35!” you gasp exuberantly.

You throw two sacks onto the cart, telling your girl it’s a great deal. She knows you gotta get those gains, so she tacitly nods her head in approval.

Then, later that night, after you’ve had your pre-bedtime shake, she immediately regrets it as a putrid smell arises from under the covers. You know what I’m talking about.

You just got protein jacked…

Most likely, you’ll keep taking it because you don’t want to admit that you’re wrong, but the reality is that you just wasted your money on a protein that’s not going to do much except stick up your sheets and go down your toilet.

As you know, the world of supplements is full of shady characters looking to make a quick buck off of ignorant wannabe muscle heads.

Many of the products they produce are mislabeled, spiked with cheap and inferior ingredients, or manufactured in ways that deteriorate the base nutrition of the product to save a few dollars.

Here’s what you need to avoid when it comes to protein powders.

Denaturing from Heat

A little known fact about protein is that it’s made up of peptides. Peptides are chains of amino acids linked up in molecules.

Here’s the thing about peptides: they don’t like heat very much and when exposed to it, the conformation of these molecules changes.

The problem is that the cheapest way to isolate protein is to use a high heat process and this how many of the cheapest protein powders get made.

Now, I know what you’re going to say, “but I cook my eggs and chicken!”

Correct, unless you want to meet my friend Sal Manilla, you need to do that.

But we’re also talking far lower heat temperatures. You don’t burn your eggs and chicken to a crisp.

That’s what happens when protein powders are heat processed.

My suggestion: make sure that you use a protein powder that’s cold-processed like 1stPhorm’s Phormula 1.

Full disclosure, we are an affiliate, and purchasing this product from that link will result in a commission that helps to fund the Warrior Soul Podcast. So if you hate us, and you hate all the work we do for the Veteran community, don’t buy it. I would not have affiliated with them if they were not a top-notch company that made quality products.

Casein Catastrophe

Back in the day, I used to drink casein like it was water because people told me that I needed a “slow-digesting protein to fuel me through the day and night.”

Bad idea. I attribute many of the horrible digestive problems I’ve had to overconsumption of casein protein and casein supplements.

Casein turns into a gel in the digestive tract. It also has a similar structure to the interior lining of your intestines. Some believe that this similar structure can actually cause your immune system to attack your intestinal lining.

While the studies are unclear if this is actually the case, I ended up with a nasty case of ulcerative colitis.

My suggestion is to avoid casein protein and instead go with a protein mix with a sustained assimilation matrix like 1stPhorm’s Level 1.

Weight Gainer Blues

Avoid weight gainers like the plague. There is not one that I know of that isn’t packed with sugar or sugar labeled as something else. If you want massive diarrhea and a pre-diabetic state of blood sugar then go ahead. But otherwise, I’d avoid anything with the word “gainer” or “gains” in the title.

Spiking

Some companies go the extra mile in ripping you off by spiking their protein count.

How do they do this?

Well, they know that their protein count will be determined via a nitrogen test.

So they add extra nitrogen or cheaper individual amino acids to the mix.

They get to say that there are 50 grams of protein in the supplement, and you get to waste your hard-earned money.

The Best Solution: Whole Food Sources

I probably don’t need to tell you that all of this could be avoided if you just stick with whole food sources of protein like eggs, beef, fish, and chicken.

But I also know that you don’t have all the time in the world to cook and that you’ll probably end up using a protein supplement anyway.

So if you’re going to buy protein, buy quality.

Additional Reading

Last year, I wrote an article for Testosterone Nation titled, “Get More Out of Your Protein: How to Make Every Gram of Protein Count.”

In that article, I argue that, while protein is the most important macronutrient you can eat, it’s not so much about how much protein you can eat, it’s about how much you digest and absorb. I also reveal how you can get more out of your protein by avoiding certain food combinations, chewing your food, and taking care of your digestive health.

Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Shoulders and shoulder strength has always been a strong point.

When I was younger, I would do mass amounts of volume during a shoulder workout to induce a pump, followed by compound strength exercises like the Overhead Press every time I strain them.

Recently, I’ve cut down the volume and mainly focused on functional strength.

Today, I decided to work a bit more volume into my sets.

It was a nice break from a lot of the full-body stuff I’ve been doing. Had a hard roll at Jiu Jitsu last night and I needed it.

Shoulder Workout

Kettlebell Z presses 5×8-10
Kettle bell clean and press 5×8 each arm
Bent over raise 5×15
Side lateral raise 5×15
Seated limited rom lateral raise 5×10
Dumbbell chest press 5×10
Dips 5×10

Nutrition-wise, Phormula 1 has really been helping me with recovery and in putting on lean muscle. I notice that I’m getting harder, more striated, and fuller. Not that I care too much about aesthetics these days, but it does help to make me feel good about myself.

Tuesday
Pull/lower body workout featuring snatch grip deadlifts

There was a time when I wouldn’t be caught dead on camera without lifting over 400lbs.

Pure, unadulterated, ego.

But I figured something out along the way:
In my younger days I could get a muscle pull or a strain and be fine in a day or two.

Now, the slightest tweak will put me out for weeks.

Longevity is the name of the game for me right now and I want to be training long after the middle of this century.

Here’s the workout for the day:

Snatch grip deadlifts 5×5
Conventional deadlifts 3×5
Hip snatches 5×3 superset with hanging leg raises
Off set overhead sand bag lunges superset with burpees 5 sets of 3 each side and 5
Lying dumbbell triceps extensions 4 sets of 15

No movement is truly low risk. I have a friend who’s squatted 1,000 plus in a meet who threw out his back picking up a ten pound weight.

The aim is to reduce risk and get rid of ego.

Today’s Nutrition

Morning: 1 cup Coffee and 1 serving 1stPhorm Opti-Greens.

Post workout: 2 scoops of 1stPhorm Phormula 1 with 1 scoop Ignition

3 Whole Eggs scrambled with cheese, mushrooms, and kale plus 1 cup brocolli salad and 2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen Ceasar dressing. 1 Packet 1stPhorm Microfactor.

Snack: 1 scoop of 1stPhorm Level 1 and 1 cup of oatmeal with flax.

Dinner: 8 oz chicken breast breaded with almond flour and baked. 1 cup broccoli salad with 2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen Ceasar Dressing.

If you would like to support the podcast and support yourself by getting any of the supplements mentioned here, click on their names and you will be brought to the 1stPhorm site.

Monday
Run/Park Workout at Prospect Park in Redlands, CA.

Today I take you to one of the most beautiful public parks in California, Prospect Park in Redlands.

Redlands has a rich heritage as a citrus town, and in the 1800s, many of the country’s rich and famous moved here.

One of the most prominent families left Prospect Park to the city.

I was originally planning to head to the gym, but I felt a bit boxed in. So I decided to head outside.

I started with a 2 mile run through one of my favorite neighborhoods to the park overlook of the town.

Then:
5 sets of 10 pushups varying between tempos on the concentric, eccentric, and inserting a few isometric holds.

Then 5 sets of 5 pike pushups. I’m not very good at these at all but trying to get better. They’re a great scale down from handstand push-ups.

Post-workout

A serving of 1st Phorm Phormula 1 whey isolate

Then 3 whole eggs, slaw, and some primal Caesar dressing.

Also, I don’t want to shove supplements down your throat, but if you do take supplements, they should be good products.

I signed up for the 1st Phorm legionnaire program to get some extra money to find the podcast.

So if you’re going to use supplements anyway, want very good products, and you want to support what we do here on the Warrior Soul Podcast, you can do so at http://1stphorm.com/chrisalbert.

I do not recommend everything that they sell and I would avoid their pre-workout. I also don’t recommend spending your money on a protein powder if your micro nutritional needs haven’t been met. (These supps ain’t cheap. I know I’m a bad salesman).

So if you’re going to buy anything and you have questions, just DM me, and I’ll help you pick what will work for you.

Synopsis:

Remi Adeleke is a US Navy Seal, actor, and Christian Minister.If you were to look at him today, you’d see a strong warrior who served his country bravely and who is now making it his mission to help people to find their own inner strength regardless of their circumstances.

But things weren’t always this way. Remi was born to Nigerian royalty. His father was a well respected Chief and businessman who died when Remi was only 5 years old.Left penniless, Remi’s mother was forced to bring him and his brother to the United States where they grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood in the Bronx.As a young man, Remi fell into running scams and dealing drugs for money.

After a scam gone wrong, Remi decided to join the US Navy. The problem: he had a record.Through fate or God’s hand, Remi met a recruiter who changed his life. She worked to get his record expunged and got him into the Navy, where he could begin working on his dream to become a Navy Seal.Remi’s path to becoming a Seal was a struggle in and of itself. He initially didn’t meet the standards, and when he entered training, he got rolled back five times.Even after making it to the teams, his personal struggles continued. It was not until he committed himself to faith that he truly found himself transformed.

Lessons to be learned:

1. You can settle for your circumstances or you can change them. Remi had a strong wake up call that led him to decide that he had to make a change. Had he not taken action to change, he would be in a far worse position today.
2. You need to prepare if you want to perform. Remi was not the best athlete and he was a substandard swimmer. Without thorough preparation over years, Remi would never have made it to the Seal Teams.
3. You need resilience and tenacity. Remi failed many times, not only in his quest to become a Seal, but in his quest to become the man he wanted to become. He never let failure become a death nell and he constantly sought to redeem himself after he fell.
4. Ego is the enemy. When Remi did fall, it was normally because he let his ego get the best of him. Learn to tame your ego. To do this you need to know yourself, and be extremely honest about your weaknesses.
5. Transformation is soul deep. You cannot just transform on the surface. That means that, even when you think that your all set, you need to continue to seek areas of improvement.

These are just some of the lessons that you will learn from this amazing book. Click the image below to get this book into your library. Once you’ve read it, listen to the interviews we did with Remi to find out what he was thinking during his transformation.

I’ve been doing more and more calisthenics lately for the upper body.

This has nothing to do with a dogmatic shift away from free weights.

But one thing I’ve discovered from rolling with people half my size: my once “powerful” shoulders do me a great disservice and allow me to tap out much easier.

So I’ve been trying to use calisthenics to hit different ranges of motion and to train areas of balance

I might press a bar 2-3 times a month right now.

Today’s workout
Pull-ups 5xwhatever I could do. Today it was 10, 8, 5,5,5

Slow pushups trying to aim for concentric, isometric, and eccentric phase of between 7-10 seconds. My aim for this is 10, but I can’t crank out more than 5 of these. I did this for 5 sets of 3-5. This is not my idea. I stole it from Diamond Dallas Page’s DDPY program.

Close pushups on a ball 5 sets of 10

Cable Face pulls 5 sets of 15

Active planks 5 sets of 30 seconds

Then I went and dumbbell curled for an indiscriminate amount of time to feel good about myself.

Ongoing with post workout nutrition using Phormula 1 from 1st Phorm, which again, seems like a good product thus far

Now I’m heading out to 29 Palms California because my girlfriends family is from there, and why would you not want to be in 29 Palms in the middle of August?

If you have no idea where 29 Palms is, google it, get past the “desert oasis” headline, and take a look at the pictures 😂

Nutrition so far today has been:

3 whole eggs with spinach

2 scoops of 1stPhorm Phormula 1 as Post Workout

1stPhorm Level 1 as a snack with a french yogurt.

Planning on having some Soul Food tonight at a family get together.

**Any 1stPhorm products you buy from the links above will give us a small commission that will go toward supporting the Warrior Soul Podcast.

A bit of a hectic day today
Meetings this morning
Then VA for bloodwork
Then PT

100 burpees
A 2.5 mile run
Four minute round of tabata pushups

Was pumped for my afternoon work session but…

Power went down
So I’m at a coffee shop trying to focus

Adapt and overcome

Had a whey isolate shake post workout

A paleo bar

A keto style egg quiche (sooo hipster)

And I’ve got a meal replacement shake with me

Not mad the power is out. Everything happens for a reason and the universe has me in a hipster coffee bar for a reason.

Currently, I’m using 1st Phorm products for a few reasons:

1. I have a lot of respect for their CEO Andy Frisella. The knowledge he puts out on his MFCEO Podcast is absolutely awesome.
2. They’re good products with great ingredients. They don’t do any of that proprietary blend B.S.
3. I signed up for their Legionnaire program to earn some extra money for the podcast. Does that mean that I’m going to start wearing 1st Phorm tee shirts and dropping their products everywhere? HELL NO. But if you click on a 1st Phorm link on this site and you buy a product, we will get a small commission that will support the product. And I will tell you exactly what I think of the products without regard for making money.

First off, I can’t stand their pre-workout. I had a sip of it this afternoon before my workout and it made me instantly sick to my stomach, and had to toss it down the drain. Now, I’m super sensitive to stimulants, but I decided to give it a try. I actually should have known better. I’ve had bad reactions to beta-alanine in the past, and this time was no different. I’d pass on that.

I am, however, very happy with their Microfactor and Opti-Greens. Both are very complete. Microfactor is their multi-vitamin pack. Normally, companies get this all wrong. You can tell when a vitamin pack has vitamin D in it, but no vitamin K. Vitamin K keeps the Vitamin D from leeching calcium into your bloodstream, which is not good if it occurs. Microfactor has both in adequate amounts and is really well rounded out as a base supplement.

Optigreens are loaded with great ingredients and they do not make me gag.

As for their other products:

I personally think that Ignition is superfluous. It spikes your insulin 5 times higher than table sugar and I’ve never been a fan of that unless you had a very extreme workout.

Phormula 1 is a good product. It’s their whey isolate protein product and it is very high quality. I’ve been able to tolerate it with a highly compromised digestive system.

Level 1 is also a good product. It’s their meal replacement. It tastes great and the ingredients are high quality.

Overall 1st Phorm is a great company, but as always, supplements should be regarded with a skeptical eye.

If you would like to order 1st Phorm products while supporting the Warrior Soul Podcast, click HERE.

Run and Bodyweight Lower Body Work

Today was an outdoor workout. I’ve been dealing with a calf injury stemming from some long heald muscle imbalances.

I wasn’t able to run through May, June, and most of July.

After a lot of work with an Osteopath who rearranged a lot of my tissues, I’m finally able to get a stride.

So today was a light 2.5 mile run, followed by some unilateral leg work.

3 sets of 5 (each side) single leg bench squats
3 sets of 8 (each side) Bulgarian split squats
3 sets of 3 (each side) pistol squats
5 sets of 5 burpee to pistols

Breakfast was just black coffee

Lunch was 3 whole eggs, a French yogurt, a spinach salad, and a bowl of cream of rice

Snack will be a protein shake

Dinner will be ribeye steak with vegetables and rice

Note: I am not Keto at the moment because I am doing more endurance and Jiu Jitsu training.

Growing up with drugs…

Recently, I took a trip back to my hometown of Norwalk, Connecticut to attend a memorial service for a friend who passed on from a heroine overdose. He was 38 and had a wife and three little kids.

This trip created a lot of emotion for me, and a lot of this video is just me getting some things off of my chest about the situation.