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"The Art of Showing Up" with Sports Performance Coach -Aaron Porter · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Warning due to some language and subject matter, listener discretion is advised.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: It would be foolish to deny the difference between the performance of athletes right now and the performance of athletes as little as 10 years ago.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: There have been major strides in sports science, in sports training, optimizing performance and efficiency alike.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Based out of Landau Performance in Denver, Colorado, a place renowned for professional sports conditioning.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: My next guest has worked with some of the biggest names in mixed martial arts, including Justin Gagey and Tamaro Utzman.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to welcome my new friend Aaron Porter to the show.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about his life journey.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: We just so happened to record this episode on his last day of working with Gagey before the big May 7th fight.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Calling in from Denver, Colorado.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sports performance.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say it is that you do, Aaron?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we call ourselves sports performance coaches.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like strength conditioning with a little bit extra involved there.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what I thought.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I thought.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Porter, how the heck are you, my friend?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing great.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing great, Mike.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: How are you, man?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Good, good, good.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks for doing the podcast.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you being here.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you've had your work cut out for you today.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I was uh watching you on social media and I was I was pretty pumped.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we could talk about what you did today and who you worked with and how excited we are.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: But uh before we do anything else, why don't you introduce yourself and tell my audience what it is you do?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Aaron Porter.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I I work at Lando Performance.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm a sports performance coach for a lot of the fighters uh at Elevation Fight Team, and um I've been there for Atlando Performance for about eight years.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I started as an intern under Lauren Lando and kind of learned his ways.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, it kind of put me on a fast track for my for my career at an early start.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to kind of kind of make a lot of shortcuts because I had him right there in the room with me.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, I think he's the best in the world at what he does.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so being able to work alongside him, it kind of put me in a great spot uh right out of the gate to work with a lot of the fighters he had already been working with.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then once he moved to the Denver Broncos, me and a colleague of mine, Nate Smock, took on took on the bulk of that.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so the bulk of the team from from Elevation.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: We work with guys from Genesis.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Onyx is kind of kind of where Justin affiliates with.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Camaro as well.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So so those are those are the guys that you know we work with that kind of circle.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis, Onyx, Elevation, but it's a lot of guys.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of guys on those on Elevation specifically, and so they definitely keep us busy.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've asked this a few times because I've had a lot of elevation fighters on my show.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: And what is it about Colorado in particular that's kind of become the hub of great MMA stars and great MMA athletes?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I think first of all, the altitude, you know, the the training, training at altitude is is uh very attractive to guys that don't want to get tired, you know, and and so to to move up here and to be able to do your training at altitude and then maybe fight somewhere closer to sea level, you know, that gives you a great benefit.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But also there's just a lot of talent out here that you know you go into elevation and fight team, you're gonna see a lot of high-level fighters and and high-level coaches too.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's a ton of coaches there that'll take you under your wing and give you great instruction.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not just Elevation Factory X is is a stacked team here in town.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's there's a lot of competition here locally.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean the first UFC was out here.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's you know been somewhere where MMA has been around for a while.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: People have been talking about it for a long time.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's just grown.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's grown a lot since since I've been uh training, since I've been coaching.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: The sport's just taken off over the last several years.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've made this um parallel a lot on the show about how much the sport has evolved, you know, more so in the past five to seven years.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's kind of a result of applying the science to it and a lot of what you do, what the athlete's output actually is, like actual functional sports performance type training, as opposed to, you know, just blunt trauma like it used to be?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it just used to be like gym wars and just like who's the toughest guy?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it kind of came down to who's the toughest guy in the room.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's not necessarily that.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting actually high-level athletes that are coming over into the sport that are that are making good money, and and we're going about training in a much smarter way.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've we've learned a lot just in the time that I've been I've been coaching, you know, it's it's it's grown a lot.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: The the technology that we use in the sport now, um, the way we set up a training camp, you know, there's actually a lot of thought process that goes into this, a lot of data that goes into it that we we look back on, you know, on a regular basis and say, okay, hey, we need to make adjustments with this, we need to make adjustments with that.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: If I was to look at the workouts I was giving five years ago, I'd be like, man, who was giving this stupid workout to these guys?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like what and so it's just changed a lot.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's grown a lot in in all areas, you know.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: The the striking that they're doing is at a higher level, the wrestling, the the jujitsu, all of it is is elevating uh individually, and I think that's what brings it up uh together as the sport just continues to get better and better.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of allowing recovery times to shorten the window of recovery times to shorten a little bit better, this style of conditioning as well, isn't it?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, where we know like it's a more calculated approach where it's not just go to the red all the time, you know, until the wheels fall off.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what was happening, you know, quite some time ago, is not even that long ago, but just like a few years ago, it was like, man, I gotta be the hardest worker in the room every time.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's like, well, look, if we're if we're trashing ourselves on Tuesday to the point where we can't do anything on Wednesday, but the other guy didn't trash himself on Tuesday, he's still getting better on Wednesday.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what did we, you know, where can we grow from this?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Where can we learn from that?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what that's where we're at now.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're getting through the week, it's a tough sport.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's still the toughest sport to train for.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many variables to it, you know, and and so many things that can happen along the way that it it is still a grind, it's still it's still pretty hardcore, but it's gotten a lot more calculated, a lot, a lot smarter, a lot more educated on on when to push and and when to pull back.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: So now that we've kind of gone through the minutiae of you know the particulars of what you do, let's talk a little bit about you and how you got into it and how your interest grew of this.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um you grew up in Kansas and you were a multi-sport athlete in high school, correct?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: So so let's talk a little bit about that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Where when did your interest in sports start and how did it evolve over the years to put you where you're at right now?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I so I grew up loving sports my whole life.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: I I remember at the youngest of ages, I'd play basketball, I'd play baseball, football, but I grew up in yeah, in a small town in Kansas, uh athletic opportunities aren't very plentiful there.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So in the spring, we or in the winter, we would have uh, or yeah, in the fall, sorry, we would have eight-man football.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't even play 11-man football.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was a 1A school.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So Little River, Kansas, 1A school, small town, like less than 500 people where I grew up, kind of out in the country, um, on a farm.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and but I always was was interested in athletics, you know.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I played football in the fall, basketball in the winter.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's the only options we had.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then the track was in the spring.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's just kind of what that's just kind of the the three that you did.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the coaches were the teachers, you know, the school.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't a lot of science.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: There was no science, you know, really.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't like a weightlifting program in the offseason.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't, there wasn't these kind of things.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so then, you know, after after high school, I went into the Marines and kind of to get out of that small town, I wanted, you know, I really wanted more than what was offered there.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh, you know, I looked at the Marines as a great way out.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I had I had some buddies that were doing it, and and I wanted that challenge.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so right out of high school, I I went straight to the Marines, and that's that's where I I learned about the UFC and and MMA.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um I got stationed in Japan, like right after my schooling.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so go over to Okinawa, Japan, martial arts are obviously very big there and and a part of their a part of their way of life.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously I got I got in touch with it there, and then I was just fascinated right out right out of the gate.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was I was buying the DVDs off the shelf, you know.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know if they were old ones, new ones, but they were all new to me, you know, and so I'd watch them and I became a fan through the sport then, and I ended up meeting a guy that was a purple belt in jujitsu, and this was in like this would have been in 2004.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: So a purple belt in jiu-jitsu was like, wow, that is uh unreal.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the guy showed us a few things and I and I loved it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And and then fast forward, I get out of the Marines, um, still very interested, huge MMA fan, kind of kind of sorting my thing out, trying to find what find out what I want to do.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I start going to college for exercise physiology and start training at the same time.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I found Easton Training Center, uh Jiu-Jitsu School, um, to start training jujitsu at the same time as I was going to school, going to college.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I go to college for exercise physiology and and graduate.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um from there, I started my internship under Lauren Lando and and uh yeah, just kind of work my way through that, kind of kind of learned the science of strength conditioning, sports performance, you know, how to how to make athletes better in a fully encompassed way.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So not just their strength conditioning, but helping them with their nutrition, helping them with their mindset, you know, making sure that they're they're trying to make good decisions throughout their training camp and form them what's good, what's bad, uh, you know, because a lot of them don't have don't have those resources uh available to them.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And and I kind of just wanted to become the guy I wish I had when I was a kid, you know, that that would have taught me these things, you know, when I was an athlete and and I could have used them.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I still love working with kids, you know, that that are gonna play football, play basketball, lacrosse, whatever.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I love working with all those kids too, because you know, that's I see I see myself, you know, like in that.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can help these kids be better athlete, be who I wish I would have had uh when I was a kid, and and that that motivates me all the time.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: But to be in the same room with a lot of the the fighters and to help them along their journey is is is priceless to me.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I just I love being involved with that type of a game.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you're you're currently a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, correct?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep, yep.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's funny because I I have that same obsessive behavior about something because you talked about getting into the UFC and buying all the videos and like just almost getting, you know, just completely over obsessing over the art and over everything that surrounds it.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing what you know now, um, and being a person from the Midwest, because I'm a fellow Midwesterner, are you a little surprised you didn't take up wrestling in high school or have an interest in collegiate wrestling at all?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I actually did, yes.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I very interesting, yes, but my school didn't offer it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have to law.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's shocking, especially being someplace in Kansas.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I went to high school in Iowa, and it like people were obsessed with wrestling in in Iowa, and and even in Nebraska where I live now, it's like people are obsessed with wrestling, especially in the small towns.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I I never put two and two together why they're so obsessed with it, but that's that's fascinating.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Next town over, Lions, Kansas, had wrestling, and I asked my parents, like, can I do can I move to that school again?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a it was a it was a it was a hard no, you know, it was one conversation, it never made it past the second conversation.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: I I grew up liking like the WWE and professional wrestling, kind of until I found out it was like fake in middle school, then I was like, oh well, yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I yeah, I I would have wrestled for sure.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would have wrestled if that would have been the option.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I definitely would have done that.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: In fairness, just because we want it we want to be on the right side of history here, the acting of pro wrestling is fake, the physicality is very real.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, no, no, yeah.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's yeah, they definitely put themselves through some punishment for shit.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, one of the things you touched on was mentorship, and it's it's probably one of the more rewarding things in your job.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just know that, not even knowing you, I know that because that's a common thread I have noticed through all the martial artists I've talked to, through all the coaches I've talked to, through anybody that's been involved in this industry that I've talked to, is how important paying forward that knowledge is.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, considering the fact that you were also in the Marine Corps for four years, how did that lend to um your structure of leadership and your mentorship of other people?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I, you know, I I've led guys, you know, I've been in that position in the military at a young age.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and so it's something I'm I'm comfortable with, and and I'm not the loud guy, you know, I don't I'm not gonna yell at people, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna chew them out and try to embarrass them or anything like that.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I try to connect to them on a deeper level and and let them understand, you know, what what the reward is versus what we're sacrificing, you know, like what what do you want to give up?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is it are you gonna choose the moment or are you gonna choose what you want long term?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it, you know, it's it's kind of I learned it through poor leadership, you know, like I experienced a lot of poor leadership and and from seeing that, I was like, well, I don't want to be that kind of leader, you know, I want to be a leader that is like the people want to tell me what's going on, you know, like and and I think it's helped me go a long way, you know, with the fighters, it's such a loud sport, and I'm I'm sure they're yelling at themselves in their head, you know, and um so I you know I don't I don't want to I don't want to be that for them again, you know, I don't want to I don't want to beat them while they're down.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough, you know.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I understand it's tough.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I you know, I I try to be that that type of person where I'm not gonna I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything, but at the same time, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna chew you out.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's your decision.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's your decision at the end of the day, it's your career.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's good to it's good to give you know people a little bit of a kick in the ass, you know, because it it can be tough.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: It can be tough at times.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to do it, you know, or you have some things going on in your head.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I try, you know, I try to have a soft but firm approach, you know, but I think it really gets me a lot of buy-in with the with the guys, um, for sure.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: For sure, for sure.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as we're getting older, men that are getting older, it gets harder to rebound, you know, from bad habits, or if you fall off that wagon, you know, you can be you can have this mode of discipline where you're working out every day, you know, doing the five-day a week thing, six-day a week thing, seven-day a week thing, which is not the most healthy thing to do, people.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you you have to have those rest days.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: But you could be like obsessive about it, right?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have two or three days where you fall off, and though two or three days turns to two or three weeks, turns into two or three months.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: What are some tenets of discipline that you would give somebody as advice if they do fall off?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I try to say don't have two bad days in a row.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, try to avoid two bad days in a row, try to avoid two bad meals in a row.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you can if you can avoid two in a row, then I think it'll keep you away from from really letting that snowball because it's tough.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: When and especially when guys are injured, this is when you have to check in on the most.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's like, and I know this is the same for me.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm either I'm all in or I'm all out.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, oh, I'm I'm not able to train, I'm not able to work out.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then I guess it's all the bad habits can come out now, you know, because a lot of my good habits are there because I need to be prepared for my training.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if I if I know if I make bad decisions off the mat, then I'm gonna feel it on the mat.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it gives me a little bit more buy-in.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if I don't have that security of going to the mat, if I know I'm not gonna go to the mat, then it's a little bit easier to kind of get off track.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and so try not to have two bad days in a row, but you know, it's I'll reach out.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: If I haven't, if I haven't seen somebody in a little while, like, hey, what's going on?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like what's up?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we gotta get back to work before you know things get right.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So because it is a long road back.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a long if you you know, it's a one week's worth of damage is not one week's worth of recovery to come back, you know.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's the older you get, that number gets longer and longer.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's it's funny you say that because uh I I've got a text group of friends, and we're kind of we're kind of each other's accountability buddies, right?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and I brought that up the other day.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, as we get older, undoing our bad habits gets harder and harder every single time.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: And some of that's a by product of age, but some of it's also just the fatigue of getting older in particular, you know.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, more specifically speaking, like if somebody's had a long stretch of bad days, how do you get them to break that hump mentally?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I mean, you gotta the the first the hardest part at that point is showing up.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's I mean, you gotta get in a car.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just get in the car.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the battle, you know.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, get in the car and come, and but you know, don't go back to the training schedule you had when you stopped.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because then you're getting the wheels are the wheel, you can't you can't sustain that.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to go back to what's reasonable, you know, just go in and and getting through the door is that is that first habit.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's and there's a lot of you know, a lot of benefit just in that, like breaking your routine of of staying at home, coming in, even if you even if you just ride the bike for 15 minutes and then leave.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well then the next day you're gonna stay for 20 minutes, you know, and and and so it has to be sustainable, but you know, it's it's that's the biggest challenge is is uh getting in the car and going at that point, you know.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how are you familiar with James Clear, the um uh atomic habits?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are you familiar with that at all?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta check this out.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: He actually has a viral video that describes what you just said to a T.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So he talks about this guy that he knows that lost a hundred pounds.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: The guy set set himself a goal that he's gonna lose a hundred pounds within a year, and for the first two months, he would go to the gym, only spend five minutes at the gym, and then go home.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And what he was doing was conditioning himself in the art of showing up for that first two months, and he was successful.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: He not only hit that goal, he actually beat that goal within a year.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's it's funny that you uh you mentioned that too, because that again, it's another common thread.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's that's the toughest thing, is just is step one, you know, like it once you get there, like okay, you know, like you feel a little bit lighter, you know, once you get in there.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's tough though.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I get it, you know.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like because you know it's not gonna be it's not gonna be easy, not as easy as it could be.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: So as I said at the start of our conversation, you had a fun day today.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: You posted a picture.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Who were you working with today?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so future lightweight champ Justin Gagey.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh had his last had his last workout with us uh today, his last conditioning session.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, he's ready to go.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's uh it's next weekend.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's a main event going going for the the top.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: title against Charles Oliveira and and uh yeah I think he's I think he's ready to go you know he's he started working with this nutritionist um before the Chandler fight and he never broke he never broke his diet and man the body transformation that he's made since starting with that that nutritionist I mean it's incredible you know it's incredible like it power to him for his consistency and commitment to it um because it's tough to like it's I'm talking like he's been on a diet for like maybe 30 weeks or something like that.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah 30 weeks straight like and it doesn't and you know it's like been consistent with it.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's shown it's shown a lot of dividends and and and I'm really excited to see him see him go perform.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean who's not excited for just like you don't have to have any involvement with this guy to to get fired up for his for his fights.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah we before you and I pressed record we were talking about it and I said you know there was a spark that happened right around the Tony Ferguson fight where I was already convinced that Justin was gonna be wearing a strap before too long.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know uh and in that Chandler fight my gosh my son thought I was a crazy person.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: I had I had hot sauce all over from my face from the wings I was eating I was five inches away from the TV jumping up and down saliva flying everywhere because I'm screaming that was amazing.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm super super pumped for May 7th that is going to be an amazing event.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I mean the the cards really stacked top to bottom you know if you look at it and it's funny I was at the I was at the Gaiche Chandler fight I was there um for that fight and they opened the card so they were the first pay-per-view I know and everyone stood the entire fight everyone stood you know it was high energy in there and then after that fight was over I think everyone was like exhausted because the next fight was also a barn burner yes right no one cared no one cared everyone was still recovering yeah I I think I think one of the one of the guys on commentary it might have even been was DC on commentary made that comment it's like everybody was still on fire about the the Gaiche Chandler fight that they didn't even hardly notice the bout after I can I can't even remember who the guys were but they they threw down that's I was just gonna say that I was like do you remember who else was even on the card we don't you know but that yeah they stole the show you know and so um and I I'm expecting it to be you know I've there's never been a gay fight that hasn't been that way right you just know like any moment something wild could happen.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sure May 7th will be no different.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So what does it mean to you when you see somebody like Justin like Kamaru or somebody that you've worked with have such great success man it just is it's it's priceless man.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I mean it I I'm fortunate to be a part of it but it it just you feel so good for them because you see the sacrifices they make you you see all the hard practices that they show up for days they don't want to do those things the sacrifices they make you know they these guys these are the guys that this is this is what they do you know when it's time to when it's time to train for it that's they're all in like they they don't live a lot outside of that you know it's that's kind of what their life is is is just fighting.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you know it's the the opposite of winning you know that is such that's so costly it it just hurts so bad you know that that it makes winning like such a relief so so enjoyable and and you know it's especially when you're talking for a belt you know to be the best in the world and and that's just that's just gotta be amazing for them.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I yeah I mean it's it's amazing to watch them put all that work in and then to get the result that that we all know that they deserve and and a lot of guys deserve it and still don't get it and that's the tough part of the sport but I mean hey when you can get a win man soak that up it's for sure for sure one of my friends uh taryn she went to uh University Nebraska Kearney and she she knew Kamaru there and uh so she knew him when he was on the wrestling team and I I guess they they did laundry together or whatever you know funny stuff but it's it is crazy um how much of a tight knit community um MMA is yeah and and how much of a small world atmosphere um that that's created it is like a it is like a family right yeah when you get to know these people and you um cross paths with them you start cheering them on not just in the fighting world but in their everyday lives right yeah I mean we have clientele at the gym that are just general population non-athletes just want to be in shape be healthy and they may work out the same time as just engagement and man they the way they talk about them like they you know they all like are like their their moms you know it's like man they they feel it too they start getting nervous you know and they're they're super excited for it all and so it's it is like a family and and you know it that's I think because fighters are so accessible.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know like we we have we have broncos players that come in too that you know a lot a lot of football players not just broncos but you know Russell Wilson's in you know no one's going up and talking to him you know like everyone's like oh shit it's Russell Wilson you know like don't look over there you know like everyone's awkward about it but when Justin Gagey's there you know he's he's inviting people into the conversation you know Camaro if there's kids working out next to him you know he's fist fumping on saying you know keep getting after it and you know they're just so welcoming and and you know that you don't get that feel where it's like this is a high level athlete or even this is a dangerous guy.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know like you wouldn't you don't get that feel from it.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's just yeah I mean it is like a family you know these guys these guys are welcome people into their lives and you know they're they're open to it open to letting people in and so it's it's cool to see you know it goes yeah it goes way way beyond just uh the coaches that are involved with it anybody that's in the room in there and and you know Gaiche knows who they are he you know camaro knows those those guys you know that show up at the same time as him the kids you know he come Camaro comes in the evening so it's a lot of kids in there right but he you know he he has a kid himself and so he you know he pumps them up and they all love it you know they love it and so it goes a long way you know and you get a lot of people rooting for you that way the very last episode of the of the podcast that I recorded I actually recorded with a fellow podcaster and she actually her wheelhouse is actually in paranormal activity and all that fun stuff but she's a huge MMA fan and we talked about this specific issue where I said you know I came from the music world and I I don't need to name drop anybody but I brush shoulders with a lot of people that had a lot of success in the music world and I brush shoulders with other professional athletes but there's something about fighters and the sense of humility that fighters have that keeps them incredibly grounded.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if it's the fact that the only time they really need to have a chip on their shoulder is that three to five rounds that they're in the octagon to where they just they have such a great level of humanity outside of that.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know even there's even guys the best guys have tough days at the gym.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tough days at practice and yeah that you know so it's it's special man it's it's they're a special group of people and and uh I yeah that's why I think I just love I that's what draws me to them even more than my love for the sport is they're just easy guys to work with you know and and a lot of them come from a tough story you know a lot of them come from a story where it's like you know they've they've had to fight their way out of whatever situation they were in to get where they are and and uh I I can't I got a lot of respect for that you know it's it's uh a guy that I can really really talk with connect with and and and that's that's always comforting yeah so what's something you wish you knew when you started out in this career field that you know now well um I minored in nutrition I had I had a love for nutrition so I was like oh that's just natural you know like exercise fidget it should have been psychology though I should have minored in psychology um I wish I would have done a lot more psychology work because that is a huge factor in this field.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: What would be your advice for making the world a better place right now that's funny I actually just had this conversation this morning with one of my clients we you know and our our take on it we agree on it his name's Dimitri he uh just focus on your circle focus on the people around you and teach them how to take care of the people that are in their circle as well you know it's you're gonna spread yourself too thin if you're if you're trying to cover this huge huge uh field of people or this large population of people if you make your circle if you take care of your circle that you're tight with I think that's how you make the world a better place and don't do it for attention.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right don't don't virtue signal don't virtue signal no it's not helping anyone you know so yeah yeah so you're also a family man right yes sir yeah so you have a daughter daughter and a 12 year old dog yeah so uh are are they fascinated by what you do at all with family yeah you know uh yeah my my dad uh you know I'll go I'll go even further than just my because my five year old daughter she likes it you know but she's more into like what color are they wearing you know right but you know she she's she's more into that she'll be like who are you going for and then she'll look at them and she'll make her her decision based off their appearance but so that's kind of where she's at in her in her game but she you know like she likes watching them train and and you know she comes into the gym with me on a fair amount of basis to jujitsu classes and to and to the workouts she's been there for Kamaro's workouts before and so you know she knows who he is and and connects with him.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: He has a daughter a similar age and you know fighters are always cool with her they you know I have fighters that babysit her so you know it's uh she's part of the community too she she loves it she'll she'll grow up in that in that community for sure um she knows a lot more than I did when I was five uh but my dad back to my dad my dad uh kind of surprised me when I came back from the Marines he was also into MMA and you know he but he would get like way behind on it it would be like it would be like uh on spike tv and it would be like years after the fight had happened and he'd be like yeah uh Rich Franklin and uh oh and so are fighting tonight did you see that and it's like Thursday night I'm like that four years ago but you know I so he loves that that I'm involved with it um my mom's always been super supportive of no matter what I do so um I she's she's lives in Omaha actually.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh nice and so uh she's coming out this weekend I'm gonna take her over to sparring so she's gonna come watch sparring so she's I've done a a handful of jujitsu tournaments and uh jujitsu pro matches and she's been to those and so she likes it you know she she doesn't she doesn't watch it so much but yeah everyone's everyone's super supportive about that stuff you know I think they all kind of knew my I have I have an older brother two younger sisters and I think everyone kind of knew that I was gonna go do something outside of the the farm you know that that we grew up on my brother's still there my two sisters are in Kansas City um but we we uh we all kind of knew that I was I was gonna come do something like this in in athletics I think it was it was pretty clear I'd try to find my way into athletics somehow that's amazing well sir it is no secret why you have been successful with what you're doing and I wish you all the best and and I'm glad to have you on the show man yeah I appreciate it man this was this was a lot of fun i i enjoyed it as well absolutely we'll have to do this again yeah maybe maybe we start doing some analysis later down the line i just yeah i mean like let's let's let's do a 10 minute real quick podcast thing we throw up on youtube where we we do some fight analysis or something yeah i love it i love it yeah i i think anytime we can talk about fighting or any of that stuff i'm locked in you know so awesome we're looking to have a pretty busy summer so i'm sure there'll be some stuff to recap uh as the summer goes on i think some big stuff will big stuff will happen we got some some contestants on ultimate fighter we uh tomorrow's gonna fight I'm sure sometime this summer uh sandhagan corey sandhagen will get back in there yeah Drew Dober will be in there soon we'll we'll be getting a lot of guys that that'll be fighting this summer I think July August are gonna be pretty busy for us so yeah anytime man I'm I'm down to come on man thank you very much Aaron the world's a better place with you in it sir oh thank you thanks Mike I appreciate it man I once again want to thank Aaron Porter for being on the show today he was a great guest thanks again to my friends and Elevation Fight team for the connect and check out Landau Performance online www.landoutperformance.com they do great work and their roster is very impressive while you're cruising around online make sure you check out www.hotonthe mic.com give me a follow on all forms of social media i am definitely getting more active on twitter thank you very much to my last guest and uh check me out on TikTok Instagram or wherever you cruise social media I'm always appreciative of the five star review on the Apple Podcast app and now you can rate this show on Spotify and Facebook as well this has been Caught on the mic with Michael Clark I'm Michael Clark and until next time thank you