Latest / Everyday Ancestral with James Barry / Escaping the Comfort Crisis: Eric Hinman on Endurance, Recovery, and Community

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Escaping the Comfort Crisis: Eric Hinman on Endurance, Recovery, and Community · Everyday Ancestral with James Barry

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  in my 20s, I definitely was the victim of marketing. My thought success was working hard,
• 0:07
  making a bunch of money, and then partying hard on the weekends, having a nice car,
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  having a nice house. I just got to a place where I didn't feel all that fulfilled anymore.
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  I felt like I was just going through the motions of life. And so when I hired a personal
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  trainer in my late 20s and got in triathlon, that's really when I started to shift my life to
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  be based more around things that I felt were very fulfilling for me rather than trying to fulfill
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  societal norms. Welcome to Everyday Ancestral. I am so excited for our next guest,
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  Eric Hinman. He is a friend of mine. I met him earlier in 2024. He's one of those people that
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  truly walks his talk. He's very authentic and lives the life that he portrays on Instagram. There's
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  kind of nothing secret about him. Eric is a five-time Ironman finisher, has qualified twice
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  for the Ironman Championship in Kona Hawaii. He's a CrossFit competitor. He's done many triathlons.
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  He's an avid bike rider. He also gets involved with investments and he really helps to build brands.
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  He mentions some of them on the podcast, but in general, he's someone that not only is creating
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  content showcasing his daily routines and his recovery, but he's really trying to build
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  community and bring people together. When we worked with Eric, he would have these kind of founder
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  retreats where he would bring all the founders of the companies he was wrapping together and try
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  to help them build their communities or learn from each other. I really respected that about him,
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  that he's not just about, okay, show me the money and I'm going to talk about your product, but no,
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  I want to believe in what you're doing and I want to amplify it. He is a true creator and
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  conspirator with the brands that he represents. Welcome to Everyday Ancestral. Here's Eric Hinman.
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  Eric, I'm really honored you agreed to come on the show. I highly respect what you are doing
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  and what you've done. You're a list of accomplishments. Yes, we can focus on your athletic accomplishments,
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  but you have so much more than that from your entrepreneurial ventures, of course, your crossfit
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  competition. You're an angel investor in things, your content creation, your daily routines,
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  your recovery advocacy. Can you just share three of your athletic accomplishments,
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  some of the brands that you're investing in and behind and just in general, some of the things
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  that you're focusing on that help get you here we are now. Some of my athletic achievements would
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  be Ironman doing five Ironmans getting to the Ironman World Championships in Kona twice in 2013
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  and 2014 going 938. I think was my best time at Kona, so sub 10 hours and then I've done
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  Leadville 100 mountain bike race three times. I've been competitive at high rocks both in the
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  open division and in my age group kind of new functional fitness race that launched about five
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  or six years ago that's becoming really popular and then getting really close to getting to the
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  CrossFit Games in my age group. I age up to 45 to 49 this year. I'm 44 right now, so hoping to be
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  at the CrossFit Games this year. But ultimately, I mean, I realized during my triathlon years back in
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  like 2010, 2011 how exercise was affecting my energy levels, mental clarity and in my well-being
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  and that's ultimately why I do it today and I've been able to build businesses around that of
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  content creation for various brands investing in early stage wellness brands helping early stage
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  wellness brands build their ambassador programs and build community. Some of the brands that I'm an
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  investor in and work with and have for a while are 10,000 the men's apparel brands, ice barrel,
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  create creatine gummies, cane footwear, mosa chips, better for you chips made with beef
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  calo, slate milk, ketone IQ. I'm an investor in about 15 of these earlier stage wellness companies
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  and I've just really enjoyed putting my money where my mouth is and doing business with people
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  who are living a really similar life to me and trying to solve a major problem that we've got
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  ourselves into of basically a comfort crisis and creating a lot of process things and modern things
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  that I think are detracting from our health. Comfort crisis, that is a great title in many ways for what
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  we're in and what I really believe you do model. You used to be in a comfort situation, right?
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  Can you talk about where you came from and what that process was like just getting out of that
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  for you? So in my 20s, I definitely was the victim of marketing. My thought success was working hard,
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  making a bunch of money and then partying hard on the weekends, having a nice car,
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  having a nice house, doing lots of indoor entertainment things, showing off these nice material
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  things and I just got to a place where I didn't feel all that fulfilled anymore. I felt like I was
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  just going through the motions of life and kind of living life based on someone else's terms and
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  based on just the public perception of success. So when I hired a personal trainer in my late 20s and
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  got in triathlon, that's really when I started to shift my life to be based more around things that
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  I felt were very fulfilling for me rather than trying to fulfill societal norms. But yeah, I mean,
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  during that time period, it was eating to excess of pasta and pizza and just like comforting foods
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  that taste damn good in the moment and then just like lay you flat on your back afterwards for
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  several hours because you know, they're so carb heavy or they're processed. I was sitting a lot.
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  I was working in an office or I was driving in a car, selling insurance during that time period
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  to campgrounds and marinas and I just didn't have any education around healthy eating, functional
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  fitness and the effects that that would have on energy levels, mental clarity and also just like
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  compounding how different things compound over time. Take for example, eating unhealthy, getting
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  shitty sleep, having a highly stressful job, having bad relationships, how that compounds over five
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  or six years versus exercising every single day, eating single ingredient food source from nature,
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  getting seven to eight hours of sleep, eliminating a lot of stress for my life like over a six-year
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  period where that gets you. So I think a lot about that now where various decisions compounded
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  over time, they lead you on two very different journeys and they lead to two very different outcomes.
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  You mentioned that you hired a personal trainer at this junction, you know, change in your life.
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  How did you know to do that? I mean, so many people these days are DIYing it. They're almost
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  trying to figure it out themselves when so many have gone before them. And so I find that's almost
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  a distinguished right there is that you almost like instinctively knew like, no, no, I need help.
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  I mean, some of it was certainly aesthetic based. I was up over 200 pounds. I had, you know,
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  a little gut and I played sports in high school. I played one year of basketball in college and
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  was weightlifting in college. So up until my early 20s, you know, I was an athlete and had a good
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  aesthetic. And, you know, in my mid 20s, just from partying hard and sitting a lot and not
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  eating correctly, I put on a little weight and I had a got and I certainly didn't look like
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  an athlete anymore. So I had some friends who was training with this personal trainer in
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  Syracuse, New York, and they encouraged me to go and do some sessions with him to see how I
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  liked it. And the first few I hated, but, you know, it was like a love hate relationship where it
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  was a challenge. It's like, oh, this is hard. I am really out of shape. And I don't want to feel
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  like this anymore. I want to get back into shape. I really like the idea of surrounding yourself
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  with people who've gotten where you want to go or hiring someone who you're going to be accountable
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  to. And that's what that personal trainer was for me. You know, he had the knowledge that I
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  didn't have and he was my accountability partner. I was paying to train with him five days a week
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  for 30 minutes at 6 a.m. And, you know, I needed that structure in my life and I needed that
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  accountability. And I needed someone to show me the way, like show me squatting and thrusters
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  and anaerobic training. I just had never done any of that before. I had always thought that
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  exercise was either for an aesthetic or for performance. I didn't again associate it with like
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  the energy levels I would have from spiking my heart rate or the energy levels I would have
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  from doing back squats and deadlifts, complex lifts. So he led me down this journey of wellness
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  and through him so many other behaviors changed. I stopped going out his late at night. I didn't
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  drink as much. My friend group changed to friends who are in fitness and also at the gym.
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  And then when I found triathlon, everything changed for me because now my weekends were based
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  around long bike rides and long runs. And I wasn't able to stay out late at night anymore. If I
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  wanted to hit that 6 a.m., three hour group ride with the crew that I committed to. It's just
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  amazing how one behavior change leads to a bunch of other behavior changes. And then ultimately,
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  it leads to new friends. And then ultimately led me to Colorado where I live now because I wanted
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  an environment change where the outdoors just begs you to be outside playing in nature.
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  What I find fascinating though is like when I see photos of you with your mates, you almost have
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  similar body types. You know what I mean? And so that idea of like you're surrounding yourself
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  with these people that kind of follow maybe a similar philosophy, follow similar lifestyle.
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  It's almost like you are the best of who you surround yourself by. Do you find that?
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  100%. I had 15 friends who did the Leadville 100 this year. And I was the anomaly back in
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  Syracuse, New York doing Ironmans. I was the freak. I was the one who was just doing the crazy
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  endurance feats. And now my friends here in Colorado, they're doing things that I would have thought
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  were very extreme when I was competing in Ironman. But it's been normalized. Now I plan on doing the
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  whole Leadville race series in 2026 because most of my friends here have done it. So yeah, your friends
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  are going to really heavily dictate your floor and your ceiling. They're either going to lower your
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  floor. They're going to raise your ceiling. And I've been fortunate to surround myself with people
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  who raise my ceiling and make the abnormal seem normal. What is it that's kind of keeping you
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  grounded as you pursue these very, I think some people say high risk ventures. It's even in
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  vest and in startups or it's in doing these extreme sports. And then of course, you're also your
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  influencer is rising as well with followers and more people kind of looking at you through a specific
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  lens. Like how are you keeping yourself grounded through all that? Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it
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  is just sets and wraps of I've taken a lot of calculated risks and I kind of know what risks to
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  take now to limit the downside and increase the the upside, whether it's the angel investing or
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  the endurance stuff that I'm doing. You know, I'm not doing stuff that isn't calculated. I'm not
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  signing up for a cross country ski adventure in Antarctica when I've never crossed country ski before.
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  You know, I'm signing up for a mountain bike race that is hard, but I mountain bike every day.
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  So I have that skill. I've put in the reps and sets to be able to achieve that if I want to do it.
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  And you know, I've done Iron Man so I know that I can run long distances. So doing the Leadville 100
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  while it's extreme, I've put in enough sets and reps to make a limited risk.
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  Granite, it's going to hurt in the moment and it's definitely an obstacle and I'm going to have to
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  train for it, but I've done enough of these hard things to understand the process and the time
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  and the purposeful practice you have to put in in order to accomplish it. And then on the investing
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  side, same thing, you know, my first angel investment was basically blind. I had no idea if it would
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  work. It was basically like going to a casino and just putting some chips down on the table.
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  And now, you know, that I've invested in quite a few different brands, they're still risk-involved
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  for sure, but I know how to limit some of that risk. I understand the metrics to look at.
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  I understand the characteristics of the founder. I understand what markets I can aid in and help
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  increase value for the brand. I understand what companies are looking to acquire certain companies.
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  So I think some things in life again are just sets and reps. You have to do it a bunch of times
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  in order to really learn from failures and then not make those same mistakes again,
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  or surround yourself with people who've done these things and they've already made a lot of the
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  mistakes that you can avoid. Yeah, that's a good point. I feel like as a father, one thing I'm
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  always trying to mirror and support my kids with is like you can do hard things like that.
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  There seems to be when they do face opposition, that resistance, you know, and you talked about
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  that a moment ago, but can we dive a little bit deeper into that? Like, are you at the point now
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  where you've just done so many hard things that it's effortless? And or do you have kind of a
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  formula you find like, okay, when I do something new, I know that the first three days are going to be
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  resistance, but then thereafter I'll get over the hump. Is there anything you can impart around
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  how to help someone feel and trust that they can do these hard things? Yeah, I mean, I honestly just
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  look at others that have done hard things like if I have friends who've done leadville and there's
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  no genetic gift, you know, that you need to do leadville. You don't have to be six foot nine,
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  like an MBA basketball, like there's no genetics involved, jumping in cold water, getting in a hot
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  sauna. Like these things, there's not genetics involved. It's just mindset, you know, my crossfit
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  workout that I did this morning, my heart rate was at 162. That hurts, but I have the mental ability
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  now to understand that feeling and I'm not afraid of that feeling. It hurts just as much as it
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  does for the person who's not used to getting it, their heart rate in the 160s, 170s, 180s,
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  but I just have more mental tolerance around the discomfort. And I think there's science involved
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  with this in that there's a part of your brain that as you do hard things, it becomes more accepting
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  of hard things. It kind of gets stronger. So I think that's a component of it. And I just think
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  like anything in life, the more you do something, the less you fear doing it. I think getting in cold
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  water is one of the best mental things you can do to improve your mental tolerance. You know,
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  it's something that anyone can do and we all get cold. We all feel that discomfort, but it's
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  going to train your body to adapt to stress. And you know, when unintended bad things come,
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  it's going to help with that too. A family member gets sick. You get fired at work. You know,
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  these are all really stressful situations. And the more good stressors you subject yourself to,
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  from hard workouts to getting in cold streams, the better you're going to handle those bad stressors
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  when they come up in life. I imagine when, you know, before you went down this path when you were
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  talking about being overweight and kind of couch potato, did you find your depression levels were
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  higher than? And I'm assuming you feel differently now, but does anxiety, depression, or any of these
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  kind of things that probably the majority of people are experiencing do those kind of still
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  rear their heads for you? Or is the lifestyle just trumping all of that? They still rear their
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  heads for sure. You know, I think everyone is exposed to anxiety and stress and depression at
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  various times in life. They're fewer and farther between now for sure because my life is so much
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  based around things that put me in flow state, that put me in a good mood, that provide emotional
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  well-being. And, you know, also in my 20s, like I was using alcohol as an enhancement tool, but
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  then also there would be a down from it every single time. Whereas with exercise, like I get
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  high, but with no consequences, getting in a sauna, getting in a cold stream, I get that same
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  high with no consequences. So I look at a lot of the things I do now as will I get a state change,
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  will I get, you know, a dopamine hit that I enjoy, but with no consequences associated with that.
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  And I also know what to do now if I am feeling down, you know, whenever I hit a hard workout,
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  I feel great afterwards. Whenever I get into a cold stream, I feel great afterwards. So it's one
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  of the reasons why I live my life the way I do is because I know it makes me just really even
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  keeled. You know, I have a positive outlook on life generally, but yeah, I mean, a bunch of negative
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  comments on social media, you know, someone getting mad at me for something, all of these things are
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  going to affect my emotional well-being just like it would affect anyone else. I just feel like I
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  can get over that speed bump much faster now because of a lot of these wellness practices I've
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  adopted. You bring something up that I've been wanting to talk to someone about this because
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  as I kind of put myself out there more and I guess, for lack of better words, my star is rising,
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  like I noticed comments sometimes get directed at me socially and they're interpreting what I
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  said in a way that wasn't intended. How are you navigating that stuff? Are you just trying to
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  answer everything or are you just kind of more like, okay, there's no way for me to please
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  do you have a philosophy or a practice around that? Yeah, I mean, it's changed over time. I've
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  a developed a tolerance to it to some degree, but I mean, the way our mind is wired, I feel like
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  one negative outweighs 100 positives. You have to re-condition your minds to not let that occur.
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  So that's one thing that I've done just, you know, over time I've developed a tolerance to it of,
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  I know that there's people out there that resonate with my message and whose lives I'm improving
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  and I'm not going to please everyone. There's always going to be people out there that judge you.
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  And, you know, when you read articles on the New York Times or Wall Street Journal,
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  like there's always negative comments in there and you just kind of have to accept over time that
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  you're no longer treated as a human and you're treated as a public figure and that's just how
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  public figures get treated, you know, with tremendous judgment. You know, I just think of it like that,
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  you know, just like if I was reading a New York Times article and I saw all the comments on there
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  and I'm like, wow, society hates this article and this person, but they're just treating it like
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  a public figure and they're not treating it with any empathy or emotion. So, I mean, that's how you
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  get treated as your star rises and you become more and more of a public figure. I use an app called
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  Opal that could be helpful to many where it just limits my social media use. It blocks it out
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  during my work times and if I want to go in, I can set like a three-minute window to go in because,
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  you know, social media is part of my career and I have to post things throughout the day, but I'll
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  just go in there for three minutes. I'll get my posting done and then I'm blocked back out of it so
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  I can't go back in. So, I use that a lot. I don't read comments for the most part anymore. If someone
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  really wants to get in touch with me, they'll email me, they'll DM me and those are generally
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  much more thoughtful. I have a newsletter that a lot of people reply to. Those are generally
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  thoughtful. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow me to get back to the people that I used to. I used
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  to answer every comment, but now it's just like so many comments. There's so many negative comments
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  if someone is running like sponsored content on you that it's just a rabbit hole you don't want to
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  go down. I think Joe Rogan said it. He posts any ghosts. So, as you become more of a public figure,
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  unfortunately, you have to consider that more and more for your own mental well-being.
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  I feel like that can apply to anything that doesn't really serve us. That's not contributing to
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  the betterment of ourselves or the world around us. I notice that in many ways, I think,
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  ancestral we were not designed to be exposed to so many different people's thoughts and opinions.
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  It's just like it makes zero sense that you should have access to hundreds of thousands of
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  people's perspectives. I feel my best when I have four friends over and we're having an awesome
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  conversation in the sauna and then we barbecue afterwards. That's when I feel my best. I don't feel
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  my best when I have 200 people text message me in a day with all of these different things to do
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  in Austin, Texas. I feel loved, but I'm like, oh my god, there's too many options, too much
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  FOMO, too many fun things going on and missing out on. Then it's just like decision-making fatigue.
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  We weren't designed to make all of these decisions every single day. I think apps like Opal
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  are good to just like refocus you, like what's really important? Who's really important?
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  I had founders events this past week in Palm Springs and I had one of my buddies Mike
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  Idala come and speak at it and he has a coaching group called the offense living life on the
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  offense and one of the things he does is at the end of each day he writes down what went well and
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  why and I think that's a great way to design your day around the things that really, really matter.
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  Just end of each day write that down what went well and why and then over time start replicating
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  that. It seems to me almost like to degree within the circles of these people that care about their
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  food sourcing and what they're eating, how they spend their time outdoors, how they take care
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  of their body, that there is almost this evolved way of even looking at their partnerships with
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  the person they choose to be around. Would you say that's true? Compared to what you were modeled
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  maybe growing up in terms of what a man and woman relationship look like, what a partnership look
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  like in that sense that you've evolved in that way and if so, how are you managing your own
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  interests but then also time with your loved one? For all relationships is the sum greater than
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  the parts is the question that you should ask yourself whether it's friends, whether it's
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  you know your romantic partner and as we age we realize that partnerships are what are really
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  important. Someone where you just really compliment each other really well and you just enjoy
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  being with them and spending time with them. Lost is obviously great but the lost part probably
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  becomes less and less significant as you get older and you realize that partnerships are what
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  really matters and is the sum greater than the part is what really matters. You don't want like
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  massive friction all the time. The roller coaster ride relationships, whether it's friends or
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  significant others, even though the highs may be really high, I don't think the lows are worth
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  the extreme highs so finding relationships where that's much more regulated and then how do I
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  balance everything? I mean Sarah and I are both in the wellness space so you know our lives collide
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  in many ways she runs events for ice barrel. We're able to collaborate on a lot of work things
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  together. We have a lot of people who come to the house that's probably the biggest friction point
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  that I would have in most relationships but she knows how much that fuels my energy and fuels
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  opportunities and how much I enjoy just having people over and you know having great relationships
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  with friends so if there's a night where she doesn't want to partake in the mix of six guys in
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  the sauna doing contrast therapy then you know she'll just hang out inside and not join in but
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  you know she's always been so kind to me and understanding how important that is to me how
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  important getting outside and biking each day is how important getting my gym session is like
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  she's just very understanding and I'm understanding of her of her needing her downtime and her
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  needing space and her wanting to go shopping her wanting to just tune out and consume TV for a bit
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  just get away from everything so I think it's being understanding of each other and understanding
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  what allows each person to thrive and be their their best self yeah what I almost hear you saying
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  too is that part of this evolved way of looking at health and relationship is to not try to change
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  the other person but respect you know the differences or respect who they are 100% if you guys
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  were to have a kid what things that you've learned in these years in this time on earth for you
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  would you immediately want to impart to that child and if you already have ideas of how you would
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  impart it please share that too friendship social capital like just making sure that your child is
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  putting themselves out there to be able to attract opportunities and surrounding themselves with
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  the right people that are going to help shape their development and again help shape what the
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  floor is and what the ceiling is definitely wellness based practices I mean I love my parents
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  and I had an incredible upbringing but you know wellness was not taught to me from the standpoint
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  of it's going to help with emotional well-being it's going to help with mental clarity it's going
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  to help with your vulnerability it's going to help you be the best version of yourself so I think
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  definitely instilling that exercise isn't just to achieve a certain physical aesthetic it isn't
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  just to perform in basketball or football or you know to be fast in cross country or track it
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  also is going to just help you develop into the best version of yourself because we were designed
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  to move we were designed to be outside we were designed to eat single ingredient food source
• 26:09
  from nature and our lives obviously look very different from the caveman lives but ultimately like
• 26:15
  that's our DNA that's our genetics that's why we are the human species and we've got to make
• 26:21
  sure that we think back to how we evolved and you know while now I know that we need to make money
• 26:28
  and we you know we need homes to provide shelter and a car to get around and there's a lot of
• 26:32
  cool things we've invented so that you know if I want to go visit you today I can just hop on a
• 26:36
  plane and go see you but at the same time like getting back to some of the basics that really
• 26:42
  allow us to thrive from our ancestral upbringing some people be like well he doesn't have kids yet
• 26:48
  he doesn't know how he's going to be right so let's just hypothesize and maybe you guys have
• 26:52
  talked about this I know that when I first met my now wife like we immediately start talking about
• 26:57
  okay how are we going to like if we have a kid how are we going to deal with food because we're
• 27:01
  both so in the food right I don't know if you guys have already had these discussions if you thought
• 27:05
  about it but how would you inspire your three to six year old to like be outside more
• 27:13
  is it something you would just model and you're like hey we're going to go for a hike how do you
• 27:17
  anticipate motivating a kid who doesn't want to leave their current moment yeah again I'm not
• 27:25
  speaking from experience but I would again say like environment is so important in what your
• 27:31
  behaviors are going to be I grew up in a small town an upstate New York and my dad took me fishing
• 27:38
  I grew up snowmobiling I grew up my dad built me a basketball court so I was playing basketball
• 27:43
  every single evening and I had friends over playing basketball with me playing ping pong in my
• 27:49
  basement so you know I think environment is so important whether that is like where you're based
• 27:55
  Colorado kind of begs you to be outside in the mountains that's a lot of the lifestyle here is
• 28:00
  outdoor recreation or designing wherever you are to allow easy decisions around the things that
• 28:09
  you want to help shape your kids to do building a fun playroom so that you know they're encouraged
• 28:15
  to invite friends over and develop social interactions early in life building a nice outdoor
• 28:21
  playground or a basketball court things again that just shape what decisions they have around them
• 28:27
  because I think more than ever when you're a kid like your environment is massively going to shape
• 28:32
  your reality and you know even as an adult my environment certainly shapes my reality every single day
• 28:38
  I know that I used to talk a lot to parents where I was saying like create the environment where you
• 28:42
  don't have to say no whether that's kid proofing the room so it's just done and you don't have to
• 28:48
  think about it or if you want them to be outdoors and active then don't surround them with screens
• 28:52
  and all the the materials that are going to uninspire them from getting outside so that's really good
• 28:58
  I'm very aware that we're all human if anything that the thing that is most consistent about
• 29:03
  being a human is is our inconsistency so is there something that you still struggle with that
• 29:09
  you're inconsistent with that you're still working towards overcoming that maybe you don't talk
• 29:14
  about as much the social media usage is something that I'm just starting to really corral in because
• 29:22
  you know I'm on social media a lot with posting and I just found myself endlessly scrolling you know
• 29:29
  if I have a five minute break I'm on Instagram I'm looking at stuff and I think it was starting
• 29:35
  to train my mind to be distracted and it was massively affecting my ability to focus I feel like
• 29:42
  social media is such a blessing and a curse and a lot of times you might not know what it's
• 29:49
  affecting because it's not like drinking where you have a hangover but what are the ancillary things
• 29:55
  it's affecting is it affecting how present I am with my friends is it affecting how present I am
• 30:01
  with my significant other and I think all of these things were becoming yes for me because
• 30:06
  I was on it so much and it was just distracting my mind that's something that I am consciously
• 30:11
  trying to corral and massively limit my use on so that it's not affecting my ability to focus on
• 30:19
  one thing at a time that I think as a society we're losing everything is designed for quick dopamine
• 30:25
  hits and that's just not life life is generally like compounding consistencies over time focusing on
• 30:33
  one thing at a time becoming a master at that and then all of a sudden 10 years later you become
• 30:38
  very successful you know the overnight success story so I mean that's something I'm working on
• 30:43
  the wellness side of it I've been doing it for so long that it's very consistent I'm flying out
• 30:48
  tonight I purposely don't book flights until later in the day to make sure I get at least one
• 30:53
  workout in generally a sauna session and cold exposure I get outside for 60 minutes every single day
• 30:58
  combined with aerobic activity usually mountain biking sleep is pretty dialed in although travel
• 31:04
  definitely affects sleep if I'm traveling a lot my sleep will get disrupted but diet is pretty
• 31:10
  dialed in for the most part up until the evening evening sometimes I can go off course and if I'm
• 31:16
  traveling that's when it'll really go off course if I don't have easy access to all of my staples
• 31:22
  if I have too many options of like great restaurants around then I'm gonna indulge in that I have
• 31:29
  it pretty controlled when I'm home but travel definitely can affect some of those consistencies
• 31:35
  what is your indulgence like so when you say your indulge what is your kind of go to or do you have one
• 31:41
  yeah I definitely do I'll tell you a funny story actually so I get blood work from blokes one of
• 31:46
  my friends companies in Nashville and about a year and a half ago I had blood work come back and
• 31:53
  it showed that I was prediabetic that was pretty concerning we kind of dove into why that could be
• 31:58
  and I told Josh and the doctor who was reading off all my biomarkers that I had gotten into this
• 32:06
  pretty bad habit of drinking maple syrup at night and it started really innocent it started with
• 32:11
  you know just like some frozen fruit and maybe a little granola and a little maple syrup on
• 32:16
  that and then it was a little more maple syrup and then I realized like what I really like about
• 32:21
  this every night is the maple syrup so why not just drink the maple syrup and it got to the
• 32:25
  point where I was drinking quite a bit of maple syrup every single night so I had to cut that out
• 32:30
  because it was way too much sugar before going to sleep so yeah my bad habit is generally in the
• 32:38
  evenings over consuming things and I mean it dates back to my Iron Man years where I was training
• 32:44
  three to four hours every single day and I just couldn't get enough calories in and I was eating
• 32:49
  a jar of almond butter or peanut butter pretty much every single night before bad 15 1600 calories
• 32:55
  but I could get away with it because I was burning 5,000 calories a day but it got me into this bad
• 33:00
  habit of every single night before bad snacking on something just kind of mindlessly and you know
• 33:06
  that led to drinking maple syrup is not funny it's like most people are drinking six packs and
• 33:12
  you're like yeah I down some maple syrup that's my problem I mean it doesn't sound bad but it
• 33:18
  is bad and definitely doing it right before you know at night too once you stopped did your
• 33:25
  markers change that's changed yeah that's good yeah it was 100% directly linked to that so on
• 33:31
  that note besides drinking maple syrup is there any hidden passion or hobby that you have that you
• 33:36
  don't really share on social media man no I share most of what my passions are on social media I'm
• 33:44
  trying to think of anything clearly it's closed in hats like that's a really cool hat you're wearing
• 33:49
  so yeah that's that is something I don't share much on social media like vintage clothes shopping
• 33:55
  and I do like fashion and fashion doesn't come across much on social media particularly when you're
• 34:00
  not wearing a shirt yeah what a short sweaty not wearing a shirt on most of my posts so yeah
• 34:06
  fashion is one of them for sure I love like trendy places I love decor I like going to trendy
• 34:14
  hotels trendy cafes trendy restaurants from the experience standpoint I just like curated environments
• 34:23
  where someone put a lot of thought and attention into making you feel a certain way in their space
• 34:30
  so you know whether it's a really cool decorated house or a restaurant I really like that
• 34:38
  that's cool that makes me kind of think well that's kind of how you are with your body you know
• 34:44
  in your lifestyle right you're curating it definitely I like branding I like identity and that's
• 34:50
  a lot of why I really enjoy where I am now I get to I get to help build brands I get to be involved
• 34:56
  in what I enjoy most in business which is branding making people feel like they're part of
• 35:02
  something making people feel something when they experience a product or an event that a brand is
• 35:08
  putting on what is success mean to you now at this stage I imagine when you first started on this
• 35:14
  path you saw it as one thing and has it exceeded your expectations and maybe what were those
• 35:20
  expectations and how they changed yeah I would say now and I have been probably for the last five
• 35:26
  or six years I'm in the perfect days chapter of just replicating perfect days understanding who
• 35:32
  I want to be around what I want to be doing how I want to be adding value how I want to be giving
• 35:37
  back how I want to be hosting how I want to make people feel and those all come first before
• 35:45
  making any kind of money off of it prior to this chapter in my 20s it was very based around
• 35:53
  capital success the public perception of success having nice things and I just don't care
• 35:58
  as much about that anymore I get more stoke from a 60 minute mountain bike ride with a buddy or
• 36:04
  a sauna session with four friends or you know meeting someone new that reached out to me on
• 36:09
  Instagram that came over and got to experience our house here in Colorado I just get way more joy
• 36:15
  from that thing like closing another deal and making more money so I'd say that's how my perception
• 36:21
  of success and happiness has massively changed from my 20s into my 40s let's get a little granular
• 36:27
  before we get off like about some of the things people listening or watching can incorporate in
• 36:32
  their life so pick three of the health modalities that you currently do daily that you think everyone
• 36:38
  should benefit from depending on your age get your heart rate into like zone four zone five
• 36:44
  three to four times per week meaning you know assault bike intervals fast burpees sprint up a hill
• 36:52
  fast clip on a bike ride just spiking your heart rate you know that that's really where I think
• 36:57
  you get the most bang from your buck mentally physically and emotionally lifting something heavy
• 37:02
  several times per week complex lifts ideally so back squat deadlift and then I would say the
• 37:08
  other thing would be pick one of these recovery modalities blended with a stressor whether it's
• 37:16
  sauna yoga cold exposure just something that's going to help both with recovery going to help your
• 37:24
  mind be in the present moment and there's going to be some stress adaption to it I would say those
• 37:30
  three things diet obviously is super important to do they have to go do a VO to max to discover
• 37:35
  what their thresholds are or how do you advise someone discover what the different zones are for them
• 37:41
  yeah I mean you should be pretty uncomfortable for 30 seconds after whatever it is that's the
• 37:47
  barometer of feeling you know if I do a 20 calorie assault bike sprint on an assault bike or an echo
• 37:55
  you know I'm generally wanting to lay on the floor for a good 30 seconds afterwards so just an
• 38:01
  effort where you are very out of breath after you don't need a VO to max tests getting a heart rate
• 38:08
  monitor measuring it on the most of these watches now they have a heart rate monitor built into it
• 38:13
  so you can see it a general rule of thumb is take your age and subtract it from 180 and that's
• 38:19
  going to be about what your aerobic heart rate is your aerobic heart rate is probably going to be
• 38:24
  about 80% of whatever your max heart rate is so you mentioned when you travel sometimes things get
• 38:29
  thrown off so what I love about how you talk about yourself and health is you know you really are
• 38:34
  learning you're using your emotional intelligence like okay I've learned that this works or doesn't
• 38:39
  work and so now I do what works what are you learning for when you travel is working you mentioned
• 38:45
  you leave a little later so you can get a son in or a cold plunge or some kind of exercise in
• 38:50
  before you do it do you have fast when you travel or do you bring only specific types of food
• 38:56
  so generally fly out later in the day just to make sure I can get some wellness practices in
• 39:01
  earlier because I know when I land it's usually going to set my energy quite a bit I do try to move
• 39:06
  that evening or like schedule a sauna session or even a hot abs and salt bath wherever I'm going
• 39:11
  once I land I generally am not eating heavy the day I'm flying I'm eating my meals prior I might
• 39:19
  bring you know a chomp's beef stick or you know some kind of protein eggs that's a great option
• 39:25
  that you can find in airports are hard boiled eggs fruit eating again just like simple single
• 39:30
  ingredient foods that I can find at the airport I'm not taking any of the food that they would give
• 39:35
  out on an airplane and then I do some homework before I go anywhere a lot of cities I already have
• 39:41
  built-in routines I have gym connections I have recovery studio connections I have friends houses I
• 39:47
  can stay at where they have saunas and cold plunges but you know if I'm going to a place I've never
• 39:52
  been to before I'll message a gym prior to see if they have open gym hours if I can pop in when I
• 39:57
  typically train I'll see if I can find a recovery studio I'll see if I can book an Airbnb or a
• 40:03
  hotel room with a bathtub so I can at least take a hot abs and salt bath for recovery I'll look at
• 40:09
  various restaurants if I'm in a running phase I'll try and find a place near running trails so I'll
• 40:14
  just put in some effort prior to travel to make the trip as normal to my daily life year at home
• 40:22
  base as it is where that new place is I'm going to be so if you're in a situation where you kind of
• 40:27
  have to pick one which sometimes we are you know where you only have a certain amount of time I can
• 40:32
  either pick connection food or fitness focus how do you prioritize those maybe there's other things
• 40:40
  too I'm just mentioning three but yeah I would say fitness is going to be the primary one that
• 40:45
  is the top of my food pyramid if I get a morning workout and everything else seems to really fall
• 40:51
  in place pretty well so that would be the top priority for me is making sure I can get in a
• 40:56
  morning workout what is a good workout for people to start doing if they were you know to start going
• 41:02
  down the path and getting uncomfortable what's a good way for someone to start what you would
• 41:06
  recommend if you were their personal trainer first have some accountability whether that's
• 41:11
  signing up for a boutique fitness class that's hiring a personal trainer joining across fit gym
• 41:17
  I think the accountability aspect is crucial in you know starting your journey and getting you to
• 41:22
  commit I mean I think the best way for a busy person with a family to be fit physically mentally
• 41:29
  and emotionally is kind of varying your training between one day doing 30 to 40 minutes of strength
• 41:36
  training followed by some short high intensity interval training maybe 10 minutes of that high
• 41:42
  intensity interval training so we're talking 50 minute workout and then the next day 45 minutes
• 41:48
  something aerobic ideally outside whether it's a hike a run a bike ride just getting outside in
• 41:54
  nature and doing something aerobic and just going back and forth between those two for as many
• 41:59
  days each week that you can do it with your schedule that's what I would recommend and you know if
• 42:04
  you can do that five days out of seven days each week you're going to feel damn good my routine is
• 42:09
  different than that because I'm training for various things so my volume is going to be much higher
• 42:14
  but if I was just going for I want to feel good I want to look good I want to be the best
• 42:20
  dad the best husband the best employee the best business owner that that's the format I would use
• 42:27
  and do you find discipline around food or fitness that moves the needle the most for you now I know
• 42:33
  we've put in a lot of emphasis on environment and on fitness but is that the one that moves the
• 42:39
  needle the most for you or is it more food for me discipline around fitness moves the needle the
• 42:45
  most I'm going to make better food decisions if you know I know I have to go for a morning run
• 42:52
  you know I'm not going to eat like shit that day before because I don't want to have to pull
• 42:55
  off on the trail and shit in the woods fitness massively affects my food decisions where my food
• 43:02
  decisions wouldn't affect my fitness decisions as much is food important 100% but I mean with my
• 43:09
  training volume of you know three hours per day I can get away with eating pretty much what I
• 43:15
  want and it's not going to change my physical aesthetic a ton but it will change my energy levels
• 43:21
  it will change my mental clarity it will change my emotional well being quite a bit based on what
• 43:26
  I'm deciding to eat but yeah fitness for me comes first and then food decisions a pretty close
• 43:31
  second and sleep and recovery are a pretty close third I mean they all really do go hand in hand
• 43:37
  and you know you dial one in the others are all going to benefit regardless of which order you
• 43:42
  choose to do them and we're talking about getting out of comfort zones but in many ways you've
• 43:48
  been doing these things that you've been doing for so long that they are becoming your comfort
• 43:52
  zones do you challenge yourself within that can you share a moment in your current life where you
• 43:59
  felt completely out of your depth and then how you navigated it or do you never get out of your
• 44:04
  depth at this point so there is variety within all of it with the CrossFit training that's the
• 44:10
  beauty of CrossFit you know constantly varied motions at a high intensity so the workout I did
• 44:15
  today was different than a workout I've ever done before the workout I did yesterday was different
• 44:20
  than a workout I've ever done before are they movements that I've done before sure are they wrap
• 44:27
  ranges I've done before sure but I mean that's really the beauty of CrossFit is there's always
• 44:33
  different things that are going to challenge your nervous system challenge your muscle endurance
• 44:37
  that's why I enjoy CrossFit so much but yeah with that said you know am I used to the muscle burn
• 44:46
  am I used to my heart rate being at that elevated heart rate yeah I definitely am things that I would
• 44:51
  not be used to are sitting on a plane for eight hours and not having internet and is that
• 44:56
  uncomfortable definitely but I just kind of think back to like I did an iron man for 10 hours like
• 45:02
  why can't I just sit here and be with me for 10 hours so I just kind of think back to some of
• 45:07
  those other hard things I've done one of the hardest things for me is not accomplishing things
• 45:13
  throughout the day like being okay with just being that's probably one of the hardest things for me
• 45:20
  so I've never done this but like let's say a five day darkness retreat that would be so hard for
• 45:26
  me because I wouldn't feel like I was accomplishing anything over that five day period but that's
• 45:32
  you know sometimes where you have to back out and be like maybe that's what I need because I'm not
• 45:36
  comfortable with that sounds like we just identified goal for 2025 yeah let's do it we'll do it
• 45:42
  together you have to talk to Aubrey I think Aubrey Marcus did that right he's done it a few times now
• 45:47
  I think yes I so appreciate you sharing and talking to the audience today about your lifestyle and
• 45:54
  how you got here and really in a sense where you're going you mentioned you're going to do the
• 45:59
  CrossFit Games 2025 is that the big goal for 2025 or do you have others yeah it's two big ones
• 46:06
  for 2025 they would be high rocks in February winning my age group and qualifying for the
• 46:13
  championships in June I would love to win my age group at high rocks in Chicago in June and then
• 46:19
  qualifying for the CrossFit Games in my age group which is in August and then each year I
• 46:25
  more do this for fun but also just kind of an endurance challenge I like doing ladville mountain
• 46:29
  bike race every year but if I do make the CrossFit Games the timing could be too close where I
• 46:36
  wouldn't be able to do both so it would be CrossFit Games and high rocks next year and when we talk
• 46:41
  about triathlon go from strongest to least strong yeah the strongest is probably the bike second
• 46:47
  strongest run and then way back down is would be the swim I used to always come out of the water
• 46:52
  like in the middle of the pack and then it was fun because I would pass everybody on the bike
• 46:56
  in the run the rest of the day so I guess if you're going to pick a weak link swimming is the best
• 47:01
  one to pick so you're not getting passed all day long how can we support to amplify your message how
• 47:06
  can people find you anything that people should be looking at that you're working on right now please
• 47:12
  best place to find me is on instagram ericinmin just my name website ericinmin.com I have a newsletter
• 47:18
  that you can sign up for right through my website which we send out twice a week and I've really
• 47:24
  enjoyed the newsletter that's longer form content lessons I've learned business things instagram
• 47:31
  it's tough to really go in depth about anything because the algorithm favors like quick 10 seconds
• 47:38
  something highly viral so it's really difficult to share a lot of what I really enjoy sharing
• 47:44
  in person with people so the newsletter and YouTube actually has become that outlet for longer
• 47:50
  form content so YouTube is also you could just search for my name and find the YouTube channel
• 47:55
  but appreciate everything you've done to your spices are incredible I am so into grilling right now
• 48:02
  and you know a lot of that was inspired by you and just having great things to add onto my my
• 48:08
  meat but I'm now up to three grills here have a big green egg have a yoder smoker and just got a
• 48:17
  shwank infrared grill that gets up to 1500 degrees so I am just becoming a grilling a fishy anato
• 48:23
  I love it how do you like the big green egg so I used to have the competitor and it's a learning
• 48:28
  curve right you have to learn how to finesse those devices a have you already figured out and be
• 48:35
  how do you like that I mean kind of like an espresso machine have I figured it out yes but will
• 48:40
  I continue to improve yes and that's why I like it just like mountain biking you know I continue
• 48:45
  to improve from the skill base side of it so I think that's what I'm really enjoying about the
• 48:50
  big green egg is there is some skill involved with it the only thing I don't like about the big
• 48:54
  green egg is I usually smell like a wood stove after yes of lighting the charcoals in it but man
• 49:00
  the food comes out so good you can get such a good sear on things I haven't done anything like long
• 49:05
  and slow on the big green egg yet I'm still using the yoder for that but I plan to do a friends giving
• 49:12
  and we're going to do turkeys on the yoder and on the big green egg so that'll be my test
• 49:16
  oh you'll be able to compare compare contrast yeah anyone that thinks Eric's crazy for having
• 49:21
  so many devices like he's not it really is true that each one has their purpose so when I had my
• 49:27
  version of the green egg I would get frustrated sometimes I'm like I just want a quick sear I just
• 49:31
  want to you know I just want to do it quick and there's nothing quick about the green egg yeah
• 49:35
  10 minutes to get it lit totally right so it's like oh man but it's nice you know I mean it forces
• 49:40
  you to just like be present with the fire and I do really enjoy that sometimes I think we are
• 49:46
  going too fast and we need these practices that just like slow us down and allow us to be present
• 49:51
  with one thing do you have any spiritual practices because in many ways when we talk about you know
• 49:56
  presence and stuff that sometimes let's go hand in hand but does it for you I don't outside of wellness
• 50:02
  you know I consider mountain biking every day my moving meditation and I haven't gotten to
• 50:06
  breath work I think there's tremendous benefit in it so no I don't have a lot outside of wellness
• 50:11
  activities that I would do you still have a beautiful grounding in what I would say a spirituality
• 50:16
  about you you know I mean we've met in person you're a beautiful amalgamation of someone who walks
• 50:22
  their talk but you also you come off as just so authentic nothing about you feels put on trying
• 50:29
  to fit a certain image you know that kind of like you just feel so authentic and I very much
• 50:34
  honor and appreciate you for that thank you I appreciate that yeah well thank you so much for
• 50:38
  joining us and thank you everyone for listening or watching the everyday ancestral follow us that
• 50:45
  tells us that you like what we're doing reach out let us know who else you'd like us talk to
• 50:49
  Eric thank you again for joining us thanks James thank you so much for joining me on everyday
• 50:57
  ancestral if you enjoyed this episode hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one you could find
• 51:03
  the show notes links and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com that's EATPLUCK.com and hey if you
• 51:14
  know someone who'd get something out of this share it with them too stay curious live well
• 51:21
  and keep it ancestral