Podcast episode

Warrior Talk with Mike Ergo – Can’t Hurt Me

Hosted by Chris Albert

The Warrior Soul Podcast

The Warrior Soul Podcast is teaming up with Mike Ergo from Transitions from War to bring you a new weekly segment. In this episode, we’ll be discussing Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.

If you don’t remember who Mike is, make sure that you go back and check out the episode we did with him. Mike is a Marine Corps Veteran and former drug addict, who went on to become an Ironman Triathlete.

Both of us had recently listened to David Goggins’ book and it had a huge impact on us. We discuss it’s impact on our individual outlooks on life, and we get into how we’ve applied it since listening to it.

We also discuss a bit about our own fitness regimens and how they play into our own lives.

Transcript~53 min · Chris Albert & Mike Ergo

Machine-generated from the episode audio and lightly edited — may contain errors.

Chris Albert

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Warrior Soul Podcast. It's early morning here in my house, and everybody's sleeping.

So I am speaking in hushed tones. So hopefully, I'm not putting you guys asleep out there. But today, we got a really special episode. We are starting a new segment each week where we're partnering up with one of my good friends in the podcasting world, mister Mike Ergo. If you're not familiar with who Mike Ergo is, he's the host of the Transitions From War podcast.

And I highly suggest you go back and check out the episode we did with him. Mike is a Marine Corps veteran, a former drug addict, and is a competitive triathlete. And he travels around and he does triathlons. And each race he does, he carries around the flag, representing a gold star family and and and a service member who we've lost. Mike's a really, really amazing person, really amazing marine, and, you know, a good friend of mine and a good friend of the show.

So we talked about it. And we said, you know what, each week, we are going to do a segment on each other's show, and this is the start of a new veterans podcast network. And our network is gonna be dedicated to to getting you guys the tools, the tactics, the ideas, everything you need to to live a live your best life. And today, we started out with a book review, and we're gonna be talking about a lot of books we read. We have a lot of plans to read a lot of books this year in 2019.

And the first book we're talking about this year is Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. Really love this book. Highly suggest you get the audio version. Really amazing effort that David and his ghost writer put into it. They they it's it's like a combination audiobook slash podcast, and and highly suggest you check it out check it out.

But, Mike and I, we talk about it and reflect on our own experiences with it, and hopefully, you find all this helpful. Before we get into that episode, I just wanna say that the Warrior Soul podcast is brought to you by F Bomb Nutrition. They make awesome, delicious packets of fats, amazing macadamia nut butters. They mix them up with chocolate. They mix them up with sea salt.

They mix them up with pecan butter. They're so delicious, and they also make these amazing cheese snacks. So definitely check them out. You can find them at www.dropanfbomb.com, and use the code Warrior Soul at checkout to get 20% off your first order. With that, let's get into this conversation with mister Mike Ergo from Transitions From War on the book of the week.

Talk to you guys soon. Cool, man.

Mike Ergo

And we're recording. Awesome.

Chris Albert

What up?

Mike Ergo

What's up, man? I think we're are we the only people who who podcast at, like, 5AM?

Chris Albert

I think so, man. I know. I there's probably some people maybe Jocko does, right?

Mike Ergo

Jocko, yeah. Right after

Chris Albert

No. No. He's working out at this time. Right?

Mike Ergo

He right when he finishes taking his, like, 04:30AM, you know, picture, and then he slays and takes the picture of all his sweat on the ground. Maybe that's when he starts podcasting.

Chris Albert

No, man. I don't think Jocko gets up that early. But Yeah. Well, let's say what's up to the crowd. This is kind of a new thing we're doing now, and we just we decided to take everything together.

I guess we'll say who I am. I'm Chris Albert from the Warrior Soul podcast, And decided to team up with Mike here from transitions from war on a special project. Right?

Mike Ergo

Yeah. Because we talk we just talked about how as vets who are podcasting, we have audiences who probably have a lot in common. And we have a lot of things to to talk about whether it comes to our impressions on different books and the vet community that people should be reading, our thoughts on ketogenic diet, a lot of different stuff.

Chris Albert

Yeah. So this is gonna be like a segment, and it's gonna travel between the two podcasts. So we're we're starting off. We're gonna publish this episode to both of our shows. And then, you know, each week we'll be trading off, we'll be appearing on each other's podcast and, you know, talking about a book, talking about a special subject, talking about something to do with helping you to live a better life and live your best life and, make things the way they shouldn't be.

Oh, cool. We both got coffee right now.

Mike Ergo

That's really the only way to be up this early. So, yeah, I'm digging the mug there. If you can see it, it's this one right here. It's one of my sister made of a wiener dog with ketchup and mustard being poured on it.

Chris Albert

That's kind of sick, man.

Mike Ergo

Yeah. That's kind of sick.

Chris Albert

I got an owl.

Mike Ergo

That's solid, man. Wisdom.

Chris Albert

Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Ergo

So man, you said you recently finished Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. And that was a book I read. I think I finished it just before Christmas. So what are you what what are your thoughts on the thing, man? That that book that book was a motherfucker.

Chris Albert

Well, there's a couple of things, man. Number one, like I listened to the audiobook versus versus actually reading it. And I because I wanted to listen to it while I was doing some exercise just to kind of get in the mood and and everything like that. Right?

Mike Ergo

Same here. And I'm glad I did.

Chris Albert

Yeah. The the audiobooks got some special components to it. I mean, it's a it's like a combined audiobook slash podcast where you got David coming on and talking with his ghost author about the different chapters in the in the in the book. And then, yeah, I mean, it was it started out really brutal, man. It was he's had a really, really crazy life.

Mike Ergo

Worse than I thought too.

Chris Albert

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was it was pretty bad. The thing is, you know, one thing I got from it is we we've all got our own shit. Right?

And a lot of people would look at David Goggins right now and be like, oh, he's led led such an awesome life and done all these different things and and, you know, served in the Navy SEALs and, you know, ran all these races and things like that. The thing like but but if you look at the the first couple of chapters of that book, he had such a bad childhood. So many bad many things went wrong. So many so many things could have gone wrong in his life. And it's like, his life actually happened for him.

Right? It made him tough. It made him into the person he is. And you could could look at anybody's childhood, like, look at my childhood, or you could look at, you know, anybody else's childhood and say, oh, you have all these reasons to screw up. But he looked at it as he had all these reasons to succeed after a while.

Right? Took him a long time, a lot of work to do that. But that was key

Chris Albert

That was the that was the transition I saw in him. Right?

Mike Ergo

Yeah. He had plenty of opportunity to just and he talks about it at times to just to fall back and come up with that victim mentality of, Oh, it's not going to work out because this is who I am. And he describes that a little in his high school years. But it's an interesting shift. I think he was faced with so much adversity, and it was tough to listen to.

It's like after a while on the childhood part, I just said, All right, this is a lot. Is And a it was a bummer to listen to, but it really set the stage for a cool story. But what I got from it is that at a certain point, he he kinda just he snapped out of that and and started looking in the mirror and started talking to himself, which which came up to to be one of his his challenges in the book. And that's what I like the the audio version for because he had these challenges for everyone to do. And, like, he talks about it.

This this book, he says, is not about me. It's about you. And he starts with, you know, the simple one like the accountability mirror, putting something down that you want to do, need to do, and have yourself look at it in that mirror, and to really to to really let it sink in.

Mike Ergo

So he's got a lot of interesting interesting thoughts too. Like when we talked about how motivation is just crap, and that any day of the week, purpose is gonna beat motivation. And as soon as I could wrap my head around that, I agreed with it. Because at first, you know, think purpose and motivation for me kinda overlapped a little bit. So what I thought, but once I figured out what he said, you know, that YouTube motivation or just hearing something to to make you feel good in the moment.

Yeah. That's not gonna last, you know, when when you're, let's say, you know, halfway through a marathon or something.

Chris Albert

Well, yeah. And I mean, what are we what is we're like twenty twenty one, twenty two days into the New Year. Right? And we just had everybody do their New Year's resolutions. Like, everybody's trying to hit the gym and things like that.

The problem is this, you know, a lot of those people, their goals that they they have there, the the goals they're motivated to get, they're not they're not necessary for you to live your life. Right? So, like, if you wanna lose 25 or you wanna have a thirty inch waist or you want abs or something like that, you you can be perfectly okay with your life the way it is without those. Right? But this is the thing, if you think about it another way, if if your purpose in life is centered around those goals that you have, like you attach those goals to, you know, I need to become a better father, or I need to to become, you know, something bigger.

I need to you you attach those to your career. You attach those to to who you are, then it becomes, alright. It doesn't matter if whatever inconvenience is thrown my way, I'm gonna keep going for those. Right? Because with the 30 pounds that, like, just trying to get the abs, as soon as life gets hard, you end up throwing those goals out and because they're nice to haves.

Right? But if if they're attached to your purpose in being, you're gonna keep going with them. Right? You you you'll go outside if it's snowing and and raining, you'll still get a run-in. You'll still get to your car so you can get to the gym.

You'll figure out ways to do things.

Mike Ergo

It's like something that's at your core, something that is there even when you're right, it's snowing out, it's raining out. Because the thing that I gathered from that too is something I've heard from other self help books, you know, talking about the different kinds of motivations. The things being, you know, motivated by external validation, internal validation, and then a pro social, or something that you're doing that will help other people. And so those those, especially that last one, like you said, the external motivation, if you want to have abs, and then you just show up to the gym for a few weeks, and it's not happening, no one's going to notice if you stop going, your life's not going to change much.

Chris Albert

Right, exactly. Exactly. There's so much there's so much there too. I mean, like, no matter what you're doing in life, if it's centered on things that are that are nice to haves, then you're not going to follow through. Like you've got to bring it into your core being, you got to bring it into who you are.

It's got to, it's got to be something that turns into, you know, something that says essential as brushing your teeth or, you know, drinking coffee in the morning.

Mike Ergo

Yeah, exactly. You know, what I like too about the book is, I think, his way of talking, just so direct. And so it cuts through all the bullshit. You know, he talks about just calling things as they are, and not trying to dance around with pretty words like how many times in the book do I remember him saying or talking about someone and said, he couldn't do something or this wasn't the right way to do it. And then his next sentence is, and I said, fuck that shit.

And it's it's hilarious. At first, it was hard on the audio version to hear the other guy rated his ghostwriter. But once, you know, I got into it, it was a little easier to take down. But there's something refreshing about that, I think, especially as a vet, because there's one thing to to be swearing without purpose, but it's so ingrained in the culture, that it brought me back to that mentality of what it was like to, to be an active duty Marine, and what it was like to, to really not be limited by hardship, but just just to connect to that purpose and get them, you know, continue the mission, get it done.

Chris Albert

Well, yeah, man, it's almost more about embracing the hardship behind it, you know, and understanding that that's going to be part of understanding that you're going to go through those things, you know, and you talked about that, you know, with your first triathlon and and kind of being comfortable with the pain and understanding that it's going to be present, it's going to be there, you're not going to get away from it. You know, what I got from David Goggins book is is, you know, the pain is gonna be there. It's gonna it's gonna be there in your face. And I'm not a distance runner or or an endurance athlete like you are. But that kind of hit home with me.

Know, when he's talking about, you know, barely being able to pick up his legs and barely being able to take a step or getting to the point where, you know, he's he's like seeing double on the road because he's he's done so many so so many miles and body just wasn't prepared for it. You know, I I think that's something that we all need to try to get in our lives is to be a little bit more comfortable with the pains we face, as we're trying to do hard things.

Mike Ergo

That's so important. Because what I came to realize at a certain point, and it's something that I have to come back to quite often, to remind myself is that if being uncomfortable isn't a limiting factor for us, then we can do a lot of things. Like, if we're willing to be uncomfortable, then we can do it. But it takes it takes that that willingness and really that conscious awareness of what that feels like. Because I think if any of us really take a look in the mirror, we can see that we do a lot of things, not because it's a purpose or it's because it's a it's a motivator for us, But we do a lot of things to avoid discomfort.

Chris Albert

And the thing is too, you know, that translates to almost everything, right? People people stick around in their lives without changing anything. And there I know so many people who've wanted to build the business for years, but haven't done it because they're they they just don't wanna go through the initial pain, that that initial that initial startup phase where their their, you know, their money is a little bit tight, and they don't know if it's going to be a success or anything like that. I know so many people always sit on their ideas for years before they pull the trigger on anything. And, you know, there's a lot of people out there who wanted to improve their lives.

Right? And it goes to so many levels. I mean, if you're you've been through drug abuse and and trying to change and trying to change your behaviors and trying to change your mentality about about everything that happened to you. And, you know, there's the discomfort of going through that change. And then there's the discomfort of trying to accomplish something, trying to trying to complete a race or trying to to build a business or trying to to do anything with your life.

And there's so many opportunities for you to say, you know what, I'm comfortable right where I am. I don't need anything else. And I'll just stick right here and be content.

Mike Ergo

It is. And I think when we make those decisions, or when we when I've realized that I've made those decisions, there's a little disappointment that sets in and then and kind of, you know, part of my heart just kind of dies, feels sad, looking at the times where I have compromised to become comfortable. Not to say that that rest time isn't important and not to say that recovery time isn't important, you know, especially after a big accomplishment or a race. But what I liked about, I don't know, can't hurt me, was that David Goggins was willing to endure any pain. And Mhmm.

Without spoiling for the for people who are gonna read it, the the methods he used to get through hell week for a third time is it's beyond my comprehension of how someone could do that. But what was your favorite part about the book? Or favorite chapter or favorite aspect of it?

Chris Albert

My favorite period of the book was he'd gotten out of the Air Force. And he was working as a, like a Terminix guy, exterminator, right? Yeah. Because I think that's the part of the book that holds a lot of lessons. Because, again, he's in position where a lot of guys are out there, right?

He's, he's you know, at that point, he's gotten out of the Air Force. He he served in the Air Force special operations, and he went he he became a Terminix guy, which is a good steady job. But but there were things that weren't right in his life. And he had a wife that he loved, you know what I mean? Who was who who he grew up with.

It was like his dream girl from high school and everything like that. And and then he just wasn't happy with his life. And for a lot of us, you know, we're living our everyday lives and and there's something that's not making us happy that that we can't put our finger on. But he kind of figured it out. He figured it out because he understood that he didn't wanna be living that life just doing the predictable thing, you know, going to work every day, killing rats, killing bugs, things like that.

He wanted something a little bit more, and he was willing to put himself through this comfort to do that. And, you know, him dropping a 100 pounds in what was it? Three months or something like that?

Mike Ergo

Yeah. It was insanity. He spent life around working out all day and and eating right and just sole focus was getting in shape to be to prepare for BUD/S.

Chris Albert

Yeah, that was that was my favorite part. And then hearing about him, you know, he'd go into his local park and jump in the lake and then go running along the the dog walking trail afterwards and people looking at him like he's crazy. But I think that's so cool. You know, just just using your using your environment. Yeah.

Mike Ergo

It like you didn't have a special training facility. Right? You didn't have like a CrossFit gym or coaches testing his sweat rate and his metabolism. Didn't have any of those. Wasn't pissing on keto sticks or anything like that. He was using what he had, you know, a lake, a dog park, running trails, a stationary bike, you can picture this shitty stationary bike that he's on. And you know, it wasn't a good one. And he used that to get into the shape he needed. So that what I love about that is it relates to anyone, anyone who's willing to decide that they will find the way can do what he did. It was hard to listen to I think part of it, he talked about well, some of it came off as braggadocious, like he was listening to his accomplishments and talking about how he was the best of this and the best of that. And that part, it was a little uneasy for me to listen to until I started thinking, well, he was. And he was just as soon to call himself out when he messed up. And so he lives an extreme lifestyle.

And so if he if he did something well, he'd say, yeah, I was the best at this. And if he messed something up, he'd say, yeah, I really fucked that up.

Chris Albert

Well, dude, you know what was, you know, it was an interesting thing for me, because I was think I was putting myself back in the Marine Corps. And I was trying to think of what I would be like if some dude came in and was like, all y'all are just soft. Your PT sucks.

We're gonna go we're gonna do eight mile run, and then we're gonna finish it off with the rock with a 50 pound pack, and we're gonna go for five miles after that, and then we're gonna come back. We're gonna lift some weights. Like, I was thinking about what my mind would have been like in my unit at that point because he he faced a lot of resistance in the SEAL teams. Yeah. Because he was more hardcore than the SEAL teams.

Like, what do you think how do you think he would have responded at that point?

Mike Ergo

I think if I can put myself back when I was in, I would have said, fuck this guy. And I would have thought of some of the very ambitious officers that came in and would try to change things and try to Right. Go up the level. And because my level of of self my self awareness was pretty low at that point. My maturity level was a lot lower than it is now. And so I would have Yeah.

That completely.

Chris Albert

Oh, yeah. Totally. I would have been like, dude, I'm gonna sit here. I'm I got my Copenhagen. I'm gonna friggin, you know, get my shit ready for tomorrow.

You go, you PT, you do what you gotta do, and we'll see you in the morning at at regular PT.

Mike Ergo

You know? Yeah. Exactly. I can always be like, look, I'm still either drunk or hungover. So Yeah. Whatever you're doing, go for it, man. But just don't get me involved.

Chris Albert

Yeah. Like, go go trial for recon or something like that. Yeah. Exactly. So I can say that.

Yeah. Yeah. The other thing that was cool was, like because he goes through that with the SEALs. Right? So he within the SEAL teams, he was a psychopath, like, which is pretty crazy in and of itself.

But but people don't realize, I mean, SEALs, just like I mean, it's not like any other job, but it's just like any other job. Right? You go in, you gotta do work, you got people who are who are there. They're they're part of the old guard, you know, and and people just just, you know, trying to to skate by, and then this guy comes in, he's trying to do that. So he went and he tried out for well, I don't want to spoil the book, but he tried out for Delta Force.

And and that was the whole period in and of itself too.

Mike Ergo

It was interesting, just the resistance he faced among, I think, the the SEAL community and among people in general. But what I gathered from that is he liked that. And I think he went into that he talked about how he liked being oppositional. And he, it helps him really to thrive. Just the Yeah, being opposed and people telling him he couldn't do that. And that goes back to what you said about his upbringing really set the conditions for how he did that.

Chris Albert

Well, yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, you look at you look at his upbringing too. I mean, growing up in Buffalo, New York, the way he did with his father, And you guys got the the the most intense parts of the book are toward the beginning in his childhood.

Like, I gotta say that much.

Mike Ergo

Like Like, it was hard to believe how a kid can survive.

Chris Albert

Yeah. That was the hardest shit a kid could go through. And I felt for him at that point because, you know, whenever I hear about a kid going through shit like that, it just pisses me off. Yeah.

Mike Ergo

That was that was difficult to hear. And a part of me wanted to stop listening at that point because it was just so uncomfortable and and and sad.

Chris Albert

Well, let's think about it this way, though. Because, you know, and and and and a lot of people out there going to to try to get some lessons from what we're gonna say here, but, you know, think about Trunnis Goggins, his father. Right? What happened? What what was it that made Trunnis

Goggins the way he was? Right? The way he was to David and his brother. And what do you think it was?

Mike Ergo

You know, probably the same that he dished out, you know, abuse, having a hustle, scarcity, lack of support from parental figures and and lack of guidance on on how to be.

Chris Albert

Yeah. And and and fear, overall fear. Right?

Chris Albert

You know, when when you have undealt with fear in your life, that's gonna come out in some freaking way. Right? And and that's that's the thing. He took it out on his kids. Right?

He had some sort of he had fear of of either, you know, being poor. He had fear of of, you know, not having his business be successful as he wanted it to be. He had fear of of, you know, being alone, I think, in a lot of ways. There there was a lot of fear in that dude's life.

Chris Albert

He was taking it out on his kids.

Mike Ergo

And especially the way he lived his life too, you know, doing shady things that just fed into his fear. You know? Oh, yeah. Purpose was making money. And he had to watch his back because he knew he was screwing people over to help himself and other people, and only helping other people in so far as it would help him.

So that Yeah. Probably magnified it. And that's why, you know, the the family got the the brunt of his wrath.

Chris Albert

Yeah. And that that's the thing. So, like, you know, when you think of of, you know, any one of us can end up like that. Right? Like, because and that's that's what I always like to point out in literature like this because, you know, Trunnis Goggins is kinda like the villain at the beginning.

Chris Albert

Any one of us can end up like that because I'm sure he thought, oh, I'm trying to put food on the family for my for my children, and I'm trying to raise my sons to be tough, do all these things. You can justify anything in the world, and you can justify it through fear. And unless you're taking a good self reflective look at your life and how you're dealing with those types of issues, then you can end up in a position where you're ruining somebody's life, you're you're putting yourself into a position where you're a monster.

Mike Ergo

That's the thing. Think he hit it right in the head. And that's probably the most important lesson we can all draw from the book is that if you deny fear, or if you just try to decide that you're not going to face your fears, it's going to leak out into other parts of your life. It's, it's trying to hold on something that's going to leak out and affect and poison the rest of your life. But however, if you can have some self awareness enough to just look at, okay, what is going on here?

What what am I afraid of? And acknowledge that you are afraid of it, that there is fear there, and instead lean into it, go into that fear deeper, and decided to confront it by either taking up that challenge or talking to that person, or whatever it is, then you can truly deal with it doesn't mean you have to pretend like you're not afraid. Just have to willing to face it.

Chris Albert

Yeah, no, absolutely. And that's that's a big, big, big factor in anybody's personal development. Because if you're not if you're not dealing with it, it's always gonna be there. It's always gonna be there. And, you know, and and you look at the way the difference in the way David Goggins handled it.

Like and this is the thing that's the other thing I got from the book. David Goggins, he's not a hero, and he's not trying to make himself into a hero. Right? That's Yeah. The whole the whole thing.

Like, he's very imperfect in the way he approaches things, the way his life was laid out, the way he is his the way he still is. Right? And he's not saying he's perfect. What he's saying is that he's fucked up as hell, and he's probably just as fucked up as his father was, but he dealt with it in different ways. And he he pushed through in different ways, and he found different outlets for it.

Mike Ergo

I think so. And I think what I like about his approach to things is and I heard him say this on Joe Rogan's podcast, and he goes into the book. Instead of waiting for the conditions to be perfect to start, he is the ultimate example of finding something he likes and coming for it, and then either figuring it out along the way or figuring it out towards the end. But he decides what he wants. Without much preparation like that 100 mile race, when you read it, you'll see just how little he prepared for this thing.

It's not the greatest plan, but his point being that just go and start. Go and start something. You know, don't wait for yourself to be perfect at it because then you'll never start it. Right.

Chris Albert

Right. That's that's the thing. So let ask you this as as an endurance guy, preparing for or racing a 100 mile race without preparation.

Chris Albert

What are some of the things that would befall a person if they're going through that?

Mike Ergo

Training for a 100 mile race or signing

Chris Albert

Just trying to, you know, just trying to run a high 100 miles when you haven't prepared because his first race, he didn't prepare it at all. Right?

Mike Ergo

Yeah, your, your feet are gonna be on fire, your hips are gonna lock up, your back's gonna lock up, You're not gonna be able to I think that maybe the one of the most important things is dehydration and, your body starting to shut down from lack of electrolytes. You know, so cause the way he did it too, is he's had some shit nutrition plan, like crackers. And, and I think like, what is it like a Myoplex, like protein shake.

Mike Ergo

There's your muscles are going to feel it and your head's your head's going to tell you just just to stop. I mean, your entire body is going to be on fire after a while. Because if you haven't built up the strength of being able to run that far, I mean, not only are you building up the strength in your feet, and your calves and your quads, in your hips, in your core, But you're also building up that neuromuscular connection that helps your muscles be the most efficient they can be for that distance. Because as a distance runner, you don't want to be bulky. You want to have your muscles be only as big as they need to be, you know, to keep your your weight very light.

But you need to be the muscle, you need to have your muscles fire the most efficiently. And that gets built up over time, the buyer by repetition, by form.

Chris Albert

Yeah, that's a I don't know, man. Because I did a we did a eight mile endurance hike this weekend. Right? And it was we did was like a run hike. Right?

And we were up in the mountains. And, dude, my feet, like, the soles of my feet, they're so sore right now.

Chris Albert

I just wanna I wanna, like, get a ball and stretch those things out. Like, it's you know, I and I've done, like, I've done 12 mile races, 12 mile I did 12.5 mile Spartan Beast, and I felt like I was gonna die after that, you know? But I've been a power lifter my whole life, and and it's just it's different different kind of different kind of muscle firings, I guess. But

Mike Ergo

Oh, come well, completely. I mean, what you're talking about slow slow twitch and fast twitch muscles. And you're talking about, there's explosiveness, and then there's repetition. And with, I think you're, you're talking what you're talking about reminds me too, is cramping up. I mean, that's going to happen, especially with the lack of electrolytes, lack of potassium in your body.

But to think that you could just go from, you know, I think he talked about only doing what twenty minutes a day or twenty minutes a week on the elliptical machine to to running 100 miles.

Mike Ergo

For most people, they're going to have those muscles cramping up and just be unable to keep going. That's

Chris Albert

Have you ever been to that point?

Mike Ergo

I've been to a point so earlier, let's see. Yeah, in 2018. Okay, so last year, then my first full Ironman carrying a flag for a Gold Star family, I got to the point of cramping up in the bike ride because I did not have my amino acid pills that I've had for every single race. And I'm glad I didn't because it was a great way for me to learn, oh, yeah, those things really work. Because I think it was like mile 30 of a 112 mile bike section.

My legs started cramping up, and my quads were, you know, were seizing. And so I had to adjust my pedal stroke, and I had to adjust my cadence. And the same thing on the run to like, knew if I flex my, my legs the wrong way, my whole leg would cramp up. And so I had to completely adjust how I ran for that. And I was hurting afterwards badly.

So it's, it's a real thing. It's a real thing. But fortunately, it wasn't my first race. You know, if it had been, it would have been a lot harder for me to to keep going and a lot easier to kind of get into that negative mindset and just like be in the dungeon of my mind.

Chris Albert

Yeah, that's rough, man. That's rough.

Mike Ergo

Yeah, I knew because, you know, early in the bike ride, mean, okay, 30 miles, you know, is a decent ride, but I knew I was only a quarter of the way done or so. And I said, Okay, if I'm starting to cramp up here, I still have most of the day ahead of me. So I just had to decide in my mind just to keep going and make adjustments that way. Then afterwards, I mean, that's that's the most I've hurt. Maybe not the most I've heard after a race.

Most of it hurt immediately, though. But my body was was seizing up, and I had this at the end, they have a massage therapist to help you out on the table kind of massaging that stuff out. And that I was I was I was pretty, pretty badly hurting. And I said to the guy like, just go go so easy. And on the table, I, you know, I seized up a few times.

But the neat thing about that and what Goggins approaches to it is I remember what I liked about it, he he would get into a race, like these 100 mile races, and just decide that, okay, what's the best I can do here? And to find a way. And so for him, it wasn't a matter of quitting or it wasn't a matter of, okay, I'm gonna go until it hurts this bad or this is where I tap out. He said, no, no, I will finish. So how will I get there?

You know, it's just a matter of choosing a specific method.

Chris Albert

That's that's that's a big part of it from the big thing that I got from it. And then his method of chunking things down. Right? Just chunking chunking the race down, like, just trying to get to that next point and then get to that next point and get to that next point. I think you particularly when he was doing, like, the Badlands one thirty five.

Chris Albert

You know, that was that was a big part of the book too.

Mike Ergo

That's huge. That that short that short term mindset. You know? Like, it's like in boot camp, you live chow to chow from breakfast. You know, like, we're gonna get to lunch.

Chris Albert

Exactly. Yeah. Chow to chow. That was funny. I stopped doing that after a while, though, because it made me too eager for chow.

And like, I was like, yeah. So what I tried to do, because I go to chow, like, and a lot of times, like because with boot camp, it was a surprise. Right? Like, because you get in there, and then all of sudden, if if it was a bad day, the the freaking the they'd be like, alright. You sit down.

As soon as the guide gets up, everybody gets up. Right? So as soon as the guides finished eating, the guide would try to finish finish slowly. And then but the general instructor would come up and quicken up his pace on the eating and everything like that. Get that forward in there now.

And then everybody would get it up. And sometimes it'd be like two, three minutes if you had to eat. But if you didn't get enough food in, you'd be like, all down on yourself for the rest of the day and be like, goddamn it. Can Oh, just take the off this island.

Mike Ergo

That's funny. Hadn't thought about that in a while. But yeah, exactly. The short term mindset is is huge for me for for racing, you know, especially what's nice is an Ironman, they have the mile markers. And so, you know, I break it down into okay, I can be here right now.

And then looking at okay, that's one more mile, especially on the run. That's one more mile. And Yeah. Little things. Because, I mean, if you're thinking about a finish line for twelve hours, you're gonna be miserable for twelve hours.

You can be absolutely miserable if you're just thinking about being done. And that's, yeah, what Goggins was able to do is break things down and chunk it and and make the things like take a mountain of a problem or a challenge and break it down to, like, individual steps of how we get there.

Chris Albert

Yeah. And it's, you know, it's interesting because my, you know, sports, I was I was a competitive bodybuilder, which was, you know, I don't think it's a a lot of people say it's a difficult sport. I didn't think it was difficult because what I would do, I would I'd make it, like, the most enjoyable experience possible.

Chris Albert

And, like, I would I used to cook my food exactly the way I wanted. The only part that was crazy was, like, the last two weeks when I was starting to dehydrate myself, but or or just starting to get ready for the the peaks and everything like that. But I feel like such a wuss when I'm listening to, like, David Goggins and everything like that on there because, you know, I've changed my training up quite a bit. I do a lot more functional endurance and and, you know, things like that. But back then, like my whole competitive experience was based off of how I looked.

Like, it was fun.

Mike Ergo

Yeah. Well, with him too, I think everybody I've listened to or I've read their reviews of the book are saying they feel like a complete puss when they see that. Listen to David Goggins talk about how he approached things and trained. Even me, I think, okay, I train maybe for really the longest is maybe five hours would be the longest train and that'd be my long bike ride plus, you know, like a brick run right afterwards. And that's at the very peak.

Like, right now, I'm putting in an hour and a half, two hours at most. And you're listening to this guy talk about how, you know, he's taking his legs up, how he's pushing himself, how he's like riding his bike to work for, you know, thirty thirty something miles and then doing Navy SEAL PT on top of it, and then riding back home and you're like, that's insanity. I feel like a complete was compared to that.

Chris Albert

That's crazy. What what are your tricks for finding time to train? Like, what do you because I know you got you get a job too. You go out there and hit your your stuff. What what time of the day are you usually hitting it?

Mike Ergo

I get up at five and I work out early. And and that that was the thing about that is I realized it's actually a lot easier to get up than I thought. Because once again, it came back to, Oh, if, if I'm willing to get up at five, if I if I can say, Oh, what's the worst thing that's going happen? I'll be tired. Oh, that's what all my resistance was was about. So I go to bed earlier. And most nights, somewhat some nights, I'll watch a TV show with my wife, because we've had a day of, you know, taking care of kids all day.

So but most nights, I'm going to bed early. You know, I'm going to bed at sometimes 08:30 if I can, nine, and and getting that sleep in so I can get up early and get that training in. The other way I'm doing it is building it into my environment. And by that, I mean, I went out and got a treadmill for under my desk where I could walk. And so if I have like a midday run-in my schedule, part of that's a warm up and part of that's a cool down.

And so those times can be on my walking treadmill. So then I've taken an hour run, and only half an hour of it has to be outside where I'm leaving the office. And I also have, you know, a set of weights in my office that I can, you know, lift a kettlebell I can swing while I'm on a call. So building it into my day as opposed to making it all separate gym gym time. Another way is, you know, riding my bike to work on certain days.

Chris Albert

Yeah. That's the thing I have in my office. I have a rule. Anytime I'm crossing the threshold, I got to do 20 reps or something. I like that.

Do squats, lunges, what's called push ups, burpees, stuff like that. So Yeah. Every time I cross the threshold to go out of my office, whether it's getting coffee or something like that, I'm doing something.

Mike Ergo

That's a good one, man. That can be can be a motherfucker if you really have to piss. I have to I like the idea of it at least doing something. And then one thing that I really liked doing for a while was having so usually I'm seeing, you know, clients come into my office for one hour appointments and was was doing 10 reps of something, whether it was, you know, push ups or pull ups or, you know, bent over rows. It was something that I would do every single time.

And so there's like those little tiny things would be manageable enough to do to where I wasn't dreading doing them and then pushing them off. But throughout the day, I mean, if you're seeing if I'm seeing, you know, five or six clients in a day, and then you think you multiply that by 10 of whatever I'm doing, or however many reps you're going to do, that that adds up throughout the weeks.

Chris Albert

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And studies show it's actually it's better for you than than doing, like, hour long workouts. It's like working out throughout the day and doing stuff. It's it's it's actually supposed to be more efficacious than than doing other stuff.

Mike Ergo

Yeah, I think that's what

Chris Albert

Pavel, the kettlebell.

Mike Ergo

Yeah, I think that's that was greasing the groove, right?

Chris Albert

Yeah, yep, exactly.

Mike Ergo

So how are doing on time?

Chris Albert

Gotta get off in a couple of minutes, man. But I like this. I like what we're doing here.

Mike Ergo

Yeah, we're gonna be talking about a lot of cool stuff, reviewing books that we think every vet or every person listening should read or listen to, and going over some of the things we have in common. But it's fun to to be talking with another person. I've I've been doing the solo host thing for a little while now on my show, and there's only so many thoughts I can bounce off myself.

Chris Albert

We got it right now. We actually want to be able to get people like David Goggins on so that we can both interview them and talk to them. Exactly. Get things done. So so how does that happen?

It happens when you guys go out there and you review our podcasts. Right? Get on there on iTunes and and just just tell people what's going on here. Tell people exactly what we do here, and, you know, share the episodes out.

Mike Ergo

Yeah, that's a huge one, you know, sharing it through Facebook, sharing it through just clicking that share button. I know how that works on iTunes. You can click and share and text it to a friend. Reviewing, simply putting some stars down, what you think it what it is to you, then leaving review. That really helps us out in the ratings.

But solely for the purpose, because I don't make any money off this, but my goal is just to reach as many people who need to find that drive, that purpose. And so especially if you know someone who could benefit from this, share that with them, and then tell them why they should listen to this.

Chris Albert

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And and we're both there with that. I mean, you know, tell people, if you get, if you find something that's helped you out, give it to somebody that can can also be helped by it.

And that's, that's the big thing. What do you think are a what do you want to do the next one on?

Mike Ergo

I think we should either find another book that we both read, or maybe we talk about the ins and outs of ketogenic diet because I've been diving in some roadblocks.

Mike Ergo

But I've been also finding some things that I like too.

Chris Albert

Yeah. We can get into that stuff. There's some I'm reading Gulag Archipelago right now.

Mike Ergo

Oh, Solzhenitsyn. Yeah.

Chris Albert

Yeah. That's that's a really interesting one. And I'm reading it in conjunction with listening to Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life.

Mike Ergo

I love that book. Yeah.

Chris Albert

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm, like, I'm going through that one right now. And then I also I went through I listened to Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, and which is a good one too.

Mike Ergo

Okay, cool. I've I've read Extreme Ownership. I haven't done Dichotomy of Leadership yet.

Chris Albert

Yeah, that was a pretty good one, man. I like that one a lot. So we can talk about it. If you guys out there have any specific items you want us to cover, let us know as well. We're happy to take some suggestions.

Mike Ergo

Yeah. And we'll we'll put it out there in social media of, you know, asking for feedback or asking for ideas. Well, cool. This has been fun. This has been fun to to work on, I'm excited to see what comes of it.

Chris Albert

You're going go work out now?

Mike Ergo

I'm going to work out after I take my kids to school. What the cool thing is that today is my day of the week where I work late, which means my wife and I get to go to the gym together, which is pretty fun. So I'll do my own thing. And then she'll do her own thing. And then we'll we'll hang out after.

Chris Albert

That's awesome. I'm I'm going to be heading to work in about thirty minutes, and then going into a morning meeting and everything like that. And then after that heading home and I'm gonna work out after work.

Mike Ergo

So awesome, man. Well, luck with that.

Chris Albert

Alright, brother.

Mike Ergo

Alright, man. Talk to you soon.

Chris Albert

Host of the Warrior Soul Podcast and founder of Warrior Soul. Worldwide trainer and nutrition coach, contributing author at Testosterone Nation and Muscle and Strength.

More episodes

All episodes →

Search episodes & articles