No Hype, Just Standards · Client story

Eats clean, runs daily, still exhausted at 46: what his bloodwork missed

February 2, 2026 · 1 h 2 min · Zac Armstrong with Rory Pendergast

What this episode says

Pendergast grew up in Helena, Montana, the son of a lineman, joined the Peace Corps after college because he did not want a real job, spent three years in Guatemala and met his wife there, then moved to San Diego for the sunshine and went to law school. He graduated in 2009 into the worst market in a generation, built an electronic signature by photographing his handwriting on a flip phone, and learned that the puck will never come to you. He went out on his own in 2015 and has grown the firm slowly and methodically since.
His week is built on purpose: three kids aged six, nine, and eleven, a three-minute commute, school drop-off every morning and a hard stop at 2:45 for pickup. Less time in the office than he used to have, and more done in it, because the cutoff is real. His father was gone from seven to six and sometimes Sunday night to Friday; he built the practice so he could be present, not on the couch asleep.
He discovered he was competitive late, through running: inspired by watching the Rome Marathon in 2008, he ran Long Beach, qualified for Boston, and ran five or six marathons. The competition was never with anyone else; it was the mile at 6:30 that he wanted at 6:25. The same drive built the law firm.
At 41, living in Missoula during the pandemic, he ate a soft-serve from the old Dairy Queen across from the school, walked half a mile home, and crashed on the couch. Over the next few years the diet slid, running three miles a day stopped being enough, and by his mid-forties he had a headache every day, starting around 11 a.m. and sometimes lasting all day. When someone asked if he got headaches, he said no. His day was often effectively over by 11, and he arranged his work so the tasks that needed no thought came after it. He calls it losing his superpower: the guy whose foot is bouncing at 4 a.m., ready to go, was gone.
He watched Zac's LinkedIn posts for a year before he acted, unable to work out whether it was weight training or nutrition, and uncomfortable because he was a skinny runner who had never lifted anything. Every bit of the discomfort, he says, was in his head before the first conversation. He waited a year; he does not do regret, but what it cost him was a headache every day, a short temper, and dinners with his eyes half crossed. His hockey coach at 4:30 a.m. practices had told him: every game you get beat, you learn something and you get better.
Right before he called, a big restaurant meal hit him like four shots of whiskey, and he learned what inflammatory foods were. His bloodwork had shown high cholesterol while he was eating pescatarian, no red meat, no alcohol, no eating out, and the advice was to stop eating red meat he was not eating. About a month into the program the inflammation link was identified and his diet was changed. He now eats a ribeye most days to hit his protein target, and his next test had the doctor asking what he was doing.
The first two weeks he could not hit the calorie or protein targets and realized he had been unintentionally starving his body for years. He was told to stop running to lose fat, which was a hard conversation. He had never lifted a weight at 46, would not walk into a gym until Zac showed him in person for 45 minutes, and then walked into a local gym and found that nobody was watching him and the fittest people were the nicest. Running, he realized, is one identical motion repeated; lifting moves everything, and he feels better after a session than after any run.
Nine months in, by his own account: fifteen pounds heavier, a six-pack, more food, less cardio, better resting heart rate and HRV, shorts that no longer fit because of his legs, and low back pain gone. The 11 a.m. crash is gone. He does his hardest work in the morning, trains in the afternoon, and arrives home with the bad stuff burned off. His kids say he is more present and nicer at dinner, with a longer fuse; his wife says her husband has muscles now. On the investment: one weekend trip costs more than six months of coaching, and the cost of doing it is nothing compared with the alternative. His grandfather turned 100 in August and started editing Wikipedia at 86. That is the target.

I had been unintentionally starving my body for years. And I thought I was the healthy one: no drinking, no red meat, no fast food, running every day.

Who Rory Pendergast is

Rory Pendergast is a personal injury attorney who built his own firm from the ground up in San Diego. His great-great-grandfather came from Norway to Deer Lodge, Montana, in the 1880s; his father was a lineman who worked seven to six and told his sons to get a degree because someday they might want it. Rory got the degree, decided at 22 that he did not want a real job, and joined the Peace Corps. He spent three years in Guatemala and met his wife there, a volunteer in the same project. Nine gloomy months in Seattle sent them looking for sunshine, and San Diego was it. He graduated from law school in 2009, the second-worst year in memory for a new lawyer, and started anyway: his first electronic signature was a photograph of his handwriting taken on a flip phone. He worked for another attorney, tried a partnership, and in 2015 went out on his own. The firm, Rory Law, is still a boutique practice, grown slowly and methodically, and in May he will have been in San Diego twenty years.

His week is built on purpose. Three kids, aged six, nine, and eleven. A three-minute commute, one green light on El Cajon Boulevard. He takes the kids to school every morning and stops at 2:45 every afternoon to pick them up, and he says the cutoff is why he gets more done in less time now than he did with the whole day. His father was gone from seven to six, and sometimes from Sunday night to Friday; Rory built the firm so he could be present, which he distinguishes from being on the couch asleep. His wife, he says, would have it no other way, and their lives are better for what she expects.

The puck will not come to you

His hockey coach in Montana screamed it at him: Bender, the puck will not come to you. He was never much of a hockey player, but he has run his life on the line. He discovered he was competitive late, and through running. Watching his father, wife, and brother run the Rome Marathon in 2008 from five points along the course, he decided to run one himself, chose the flattest one he could find in Long Beach, and found something in the training he did not know was there. He qualified for Boston and ran it several times, five or six marathons in all. The competition was never against another person; it was the mile at 6:30 that he wanted at 6:25. The running took off at the same time as the law career, and the same internal push built both.

The Dairy Queen

Forty did not bother him. Forty-one did. During the pandemic the family spent a year in Missoula, and across the street from the kids’ school was an old-school Dairy Queen that only opened in summer. One spring afternoon he walked the kids over, ate a soft-serve with chocolate on it, felt his head bobble and his eyes blink, walked the half mile home, and crashed on the couch. He told himself it could not be the sugar. Over the next few years the diet slid and the three miles a day stopped being enough. By his mid-forties he had a headache every day, starting around 11 a.m. and sometimes lasting until night. When someone asked whether he got headaches, he said no. His day was often effectively finished by late morning, and he had reorganized his work so the tasks that needed no thought came after it. He calls it losing his superpower. He had always been Thumper, foot bouncing at 4 a.m., ready to go, and then he was not. Not old, not young, humbled.

What made it more than an inconvenience was the arithmetic on his kids. He will be in his fifties when they graduate. He remembers his own grandparents as people he sat and watched Perry Mason with, and he does not want to be that. His view is that a man in his forties gets to make a decision: hit 80, 90, or 100 in good health, or putter into his seventies feeling terrible and in a terrible mood, kept alive by modern medicine. His grandfather turned 100 in August, was interviewed by Wikipedia for its 25th anniversary because he started editing it at 86, and was dancing at the party. That is the target.

A year of watching

He describes the denial as the reptile brain keeping him safe: if I am conscious of this it is real, and if it is real I have to deal with it. He came across Zac on LinkedIn, could not tell whether the posts were about weight training or nutrition, and watched for about a year. He is a skinny guy who runs; he had never lifted a weight and could not picture himself in a gym. Every bit of the discomfort, he says now, existed only in his head before the first conversation, and none of it happened. He does not do regret and says his brain has to wrap itself around a thing before he grabs it, but he is precise about what the year cost: a nagging headache every day, a short temper, and coming home to sit at dinner with his eyes half crossed. When Zac called, his reaction was that this was just a nice guy. Then he asked to be shown in person, because he was not going to lift weights somewhere and look like an ass. Forty-five minutes at Zac’s facility and he thought: I can do this.

Inflammation

Right as he was about to call, a big meal at his neighbor’s restaurant hit him like four shots of whiskey. He had no idea what an inflammatory food was, and nearly everything on the menu was one. Earlier bloodwork had shown high cholesterol, which does not run in his family and made no sense for a man eating salmon and mahi, no red meat, no alcohol, no eating out. The advice had been to stop eating red meat he was not eating. About a month into the program the pattern was identified and his diet was rebuilt around protein. He now eats a ribeye most days and craves it. At the next draw the doctor asked what he was doing. His summary is the same maxim he uses in law: to understand anything, you have to track it. Calories, protein, training, sleep, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, sleep efficiency. Zac adds the observation about bedtimes: everyone sets a time to wake up and nobody sets a time to go to sleep, and once you give the body a fifteen-minute window it learns.

Lifting at 46

The first two weeks he could not hit the calorie target or the protein target and realized he had been unintentionally starving his body for years, running every day and replacing it with two giant bowls of ice cream at night. Then he was told to stop running in order to lose fat, which for a man whose only release was running was a hard conversation. And he started lifting weights for the first time in his life at 46. Zac told him nobody in a gym is paying attention to anyone but themselves and the fittest people are the nicest, which he thought was nonsense until he walked into a gym he can walk to and found it was true. What surprised him is the training itself. A runner is trying to be efficient, engage the core and use as few muscles as possible, and repeats one identical motion thousands of times, which is where the tension and the injuries live. Lifting moves the body up and down, left and right, works parts of him that running never touched, and leaves him feeling better afterward than any run ever did. The low back pain that skinny guys carry is gone.

He hates being told what to do; his wife jokes about it, and he resents his own calendar. He loved the app, because he could see the direct consequence of every entry. The workout videos meant he could figure it out himself, elbow in, slow and steady, and the timer meant that taking an extra breather would put him five minutes over last week, which his competitive nature would not allow. A note saying his heart rate needed to come up, which he reads as stop being lazy and get to it. And once, after he did something, a response so fast he asked how Zac could possibly know, then remembered it was all in the data.

What changed

In April, before he started, Zac told him he would eat more calories, do less cardio, and have more energy, and he did not believe a word of it. Nine months in, by his own account: fifteen pounds heavier, a six-pack, more food, less cardio, better resting heart rate and HRV. He put on a pair of shorts four months in and could not get them over his legs. He looks cut in the mirror for the first time, and says the bigger thing is the accomplishment of doing something he had never done and getting good at it: he walks into a gym confident, knows what he can and cannot do, and why. The 11 a.m. crash and the headaches are gone, which he attributes to the comprehensive approach, tweaking everything at once while only having to enter his food and his training. He does his hardest work in the morning, trains in the afternoon, and gets home with the bad stuff burned off. His kids, in their nice way, say he is more present and nicer at dinner, and that the fuse is longer. He says yes to the beach and the drive now instead of no. His wife says her husband has muscles. Individual results vary.

Risk and return

Asked to make the case for the investment the way he would weigh a case, he splits it in two. The money is pennies; one trip somewhere costs more than six months with Zac. The time and the dedication are the real investment, and you get out of life what you put in: if you expect a lot, expect to put a lot in. Anything easy, he says, is not worth his time, and there is no free lunch. The philosophical conversation a man has to have with himself is that he has slowed down, and if he gives something up and works, he can have the feeling of greatness again. In his forties you cannot live like a twenty-year-old without repercussions. His advice to the version of himself who watched for a year: just do it. Deep down he had tagged those posts because he knew something was deficient and would not say so out loud. If something is resonating with you, that is why.

Zac’s close, on the first episode of the show: you are not broken, you are misaligned. Fatigue, brain fog, and stress are not signs of failure; they are signals that something needs to change, and most of it is reversible. Pendergast came in wanting a physical change and got better energy, sharper focus, and stronger relationships at home. Your kids do not want your money; they want you to play with them, and you have maybe five or six summers left where they actually want to.

Transcript

Full text, timestamped

Auto-generated from the episode audio and lightly formatted. Each timestamp links to that moment in the video.

0:00 Fatigue, brain fog, stress. You belt success, but at what cost? Your energy crashes at 3 p.m. You rely on caffeine to power through your day. Deep down, you know you’re not performing at your best at work, at home, in the mirror. You go to the doctor, they run your blood work, maybe 10, 15 basic markers, and they tell you you’re normal. But here’s the thing. Normal is just the average of the population. And look around you. The average man over 40 is overweight, inflamed, and metabolically broken. So when your doctor says you’re just normal, what they’re really saying is you’re just not sick enough for medication. That’s the game called sick care. Their goal is to keep you from dying. But your goal, your goal is to perform. Those are two completely different sports. I’m Zac Armstrong, former Marine, naval officer, fighter pilot turned elite performance coach. For over 20 years,

1:01 I’ve helped high performing men realign body, mind, and spirit. And I hear the same thing on calls over and over. I don’t feel terrible. I don’t I just don’t feel as good as I used to. I just don’t feel as good as I should. That is not a motivation problem. That’s a misalignment. And the good news, most of it is reversible. Welcome to the very first episode of No Hype, Just Standards. This is a show for high performing men, executives, entrepreneurs, business owners who’ve built successful careers, but know something’s off. You’re winning at work, but you’re running on empty, and you’re providing for your family, but you’re too tired to actually be there for them. Every week, we’re going to have real conversations about what it takes to get your edge back. We’ll talk about the training, the nutrition, the data, but more than that, we’ll talk about the mindset because this isn’t just about losing weight or looking better. It’s about becoming the man, the man your family needs you to be, the leader that

2:03 Your team needs you to be, the version of yourself, you know you’re capable of being. We’ll bring on clients who’ve been through the transformations themselves, guys just like you who’ve hit the wall and decided to do something about it. We’ll break down the mythology, the science, the stuff that actually works versus the noise. And we’ll keep it real. No exaggeration, no just standards. For our first episode, I wanted to bring on someone who represents exactly who this show is for. Roy Penigrass is a personal injury attorney who built his own law firm from the ground up. Before law school, he spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. So, he knows something about serving others. He’s a father, a husband, and unlike a lot of driven professionals, he hit a point where success on the outside didn’t match how he felt on the inside. We’re going to talk about what that looked like. The stress, the energy

3:03 Crashes, the feeling that something was off. We’re going to talk about what happened when he finally saw what was actually going on inside his body. not the 10 biomarkers that Dr. Ran, but the full picture. And we’re going to talk about what changed, not just physically, but in his work, his relationships, and how he shows up every day. If you’re a high performing professional who knows you’re not operating at your best, hit subscribe. We’re just getting started, and I don’t want you to miss what’s coming. Let’s get into it. Hey Rory. Um, so tell us a little bit about yourself. You know, what do you do? How did you end up building your own law firm? Um, and what does that look like for you in life? So, I I can give you the longer term, but really what I was born and raised in Montana, right? Like my great greatgrandfather runs through it type stuff. Yeah. River runs. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, cuz you know, my great greatgrandfather from Norway ended up in Deer Lodge, Montana in the 1880s. Now, I’m telling you, it takes a it takes a

4:04 Badass kind to survive that area now. And I can’t imagine what it would have been like in the 1880s. So I grew up there. My dad was a lineman. His his father-in-law had a power line contracting business. So I had all of this sort of lineman stuff. And I knew that I like that was a little too hard for me. I’m not sure if I could I could do that. And and then he my dad always wanted us to go to school. I remember him saying once, hey, you want to go do anything you want, that’s fine. Go get your degree and you can go to anything you want, but someday you may want that degree. So got a degree. We were just kind of talking a little bit when I when I graduated. I thought, you know, I’m like what, 22, almost 23, like I don’t want a real job. So, I joined the Peace Corps. Uh was in Guatemala for about three years. Met my wife there who was also a volunteer that we came into the same time, same project. Um we got married. We tried about nine months in in gloomy Seattle. And because I had a brother there, I had just had a couple kids. And after nine months, I was like, “Where does the sunshine?

5:05 Where does the sunshine?” I had not been in San Diego. I didn’t even know San Diego was this was literally on the border, but I was like, “Sunshine? Yes. Sign me up.” Yeah. So, we moved down here and then I got into law school. I uh you know I graduate and it’s like the worst time for for a new a new well on second worst time for a new grad because I graduated in09. Yep. Right around the It was luckily by that time we had crashed like we had hit rock bottom. There was you could not go farther south. Sure. Right. You were done. Stock market was dead. So So you know you gota But what I learned is anything in life is you got to hustle. I was about to say it. You got to hustle. You know, the funny thing is, so I I just I just joined an adult hockey league. I haven’t played hockey in like 26 or 27 years. Yeah. And you still got all your teeth. Imagine. Still got all my teeth. I didn’t break anything last week, so it was a success. But I remember my hockey coach. I mean, this is always in my ear. He would

6:05 Scream at me, Bender, the puck will not come to you. Right. And I kept it. I was ne I was never really that good at the hockey side of things, but in life, that that was it. the puck will never come to you. I like that. And I and I’ve I’ve approached life that way. So the same sort of thing. I mean I I rem I remember, you know, at the time you could most things were, you know, it was a hard copy. You had to print stuff off, sign things. Yeah. And I ended up I got like an electronic signature, but what I did is I just had a white sheet of paper. I signed my name with a pen. I had one of those flip phones. Remember? I mean Yeah. Oh, I remember them. Well, for those out there who don’t know flip phones, flip phones. And I took a little picture. Uh, and that was like my electronic signature that I had there. But anyways, you know, so like anything is that when you when you hit it, uh, you hustle, you’re you’re always just if you just kind of push and push and push and push, not like a big hit and sometimes a big hit, but mainly just like consistent consistent small pushes.

7:06 And eventually, you know, I worked for a guy and then realized, hey, I I kind of want to try this on my own. had a partnership for a little bit and then um then in 2015 went out on my own with the Pendergas law firm uh and then just over the years just have kind of slowly kind of methodically grown uh grown the law firm still boutique law firm but you know this is this is kind of how through that little pushing is how I’ve got to where I am now and now you know it’s like in May I will complete 20 years in San Diego which is kind of wild. Yeah, I’m not I’ll be damned. In May I’ll be 19 years. So, well, sorry. 16 years. So, not too far behind you. And yeah, I agree that there is a I did spend a little time in Seattle. Oh, it’s it’s you know what I’ve got cousins there in the summertime. Most it’s some of the most in the most beautiful. Yeah. But after that, like 18 hours on sunlight, but after that they can have it. It’s like it’s not it’s not even like gray, you

8:06 Know, Portland is kind of like gray. It’s like this dark clouds. The lights turn on at 3 or 1, two, three in the afternoon because it’s so dark. But they produce like nirvana for good reason, right? Yeah. Uh so tell me what does a typical week look like for you when you’re in the thick of it? You know, cases, clients, running family, business, and a family. How does that look? So the other thing is I’ve got three kids and you know they range from six, nine, and 11. And so really, you know, and and I’m lucky to where because I run things and things have gone well enough to where I have some flexibility. So, you know, I knew my dad was gone at, you know, he worked from at the shop from 7 to 6. Uh, my when my brothers were younger, I’m the youngest, my brothers were younger, he was out in the field, so he’d leave on Sunday night sometimes, early Monday morning, 4 the morning, wouldn’t come back till Friday. I am lucky enough to where I get to I take my kids to school, right? So, we get up, I mean, I’m I’m on them. Let’s go. Right? You know, we get him to school and then my office only if I hit one green light

9:06 Off of Elcohone Boulevard, it takes me three minutes to get to the office. That’s that’s harsh. So, I know real harsh. But so, but you know, I built it that way. Like all of this stuff, it’s it’s purpose. People they don’t understand like the certain conveniences and time savings what that can do in life. Like if you commute an hour each way every day, like you come to work stressed, you’re you’re mad. Very rarely you going to come after traveling for an hour happy to be at work. It’s terrible. So, and for me, I mean, you know, I I grew up in Helena, Montana. That’s the capital. So, as as a as a as a youngster, I always thought, hey, I’m I live in the capital. This is the biggest spot. You know, there’s 25,000 people that live here. Yeah. 45 in the in the in the county, which is significant compared to most of Montana, but you go anywhere else in the world and that’s nothing. And so, for me, that’s not called a city, that’s called a town. Yes. Yeah. Well, yes, it is. It is uh but for me I you know and Carrie and I we we have gone out of our way to build this little world. You know our joke would be before is that somebody say oh

10:07 In San Diego have you been here? Have you been there? And I’d say look if it takes more than 15 minutes to get there I don’t need to go there. That’s the way it feels in San Diego. Yeah. So that’s my bubble. That’s my bubble. 15 minutes. But you go for it. But anyways so you know you you know consistently what it comes down to is show up work you know five days a week. sometime, you know, years ago, I used to work on the weekend some. Now, you know, I try to avoid all of that. I kind of try, you know, right now it’s kind of, it’s funny that it’s like more stuff that happens, more pressure at work, more cases, more people managing, kids are getting older. Now, it’s like we just hit this, we hit this time this year to where my kids just have stuff going on all the time, which is good. Kids need it. Yeah. They’re not driving themselves there. Not yet. Not yet. Elon has got that figured out. Soon enough. Soon enough. Soon enough. Yeah. But so so now it’s like I have less time kind of in the office, but even with that less time, I’m able to do more. Right. And that’s that’s kind of how

11:08 Efficiency efficiency. And so it just and and for me, I need that sort of push uh to efficiency. Look, if you give me 10 minutes or an hour, I will get it done. Right. If you give me the hour, I’m going to take the full hour, maybe hour five. I think it’s just human nature, part of the human condition, right? Yeah. And so that’s been one good thing is like the compressing it and having those sort of markers and and it’s not just about the responsibility of the moment. It’s about what’s the next responsibility you have, right? You know, if the kids get out at 2:45, if I’m not there at 3, you know, they’re scratching their heads wondering where I’m at. So, so whatever I have to do during the day, there’s a cut off point because it’s not just this it’s not just this fake sort of blah, oh, I I’m I’m going to do this so I can complete it. No, it’s cuz I got stuff to do afterwards. That’s more important. The kids. The kids. Yeah. And then, you know, home life and taking care of everything, you know, doing what doing what you got to do. Being a dad that you want to be. Being Exactly. being the dad that you

12:09 Want to be so that you’re there so that the kids know what your name is, they know what you look like. Present. Present cuz it’s one thing to be there and being on the couch falling asleep and is another thing to be present in your kids’ lives. AB: Absolutely. Yeah. And uh I mean, you know, you said it too, like your dad, you didn’t see him as much because he was working all the time. You know, my my dad died when I was young and so like missing those aspects of life. It’s funny how you know your parents can be a good example of what to do or what not to do. Not that your dad was doing anything wrong, but like it would definitely push you to where you want to be there and more present. And I know that cuz I know you well, but yeah. Um it’s funny how that can happen. Well, and then you got to, you know, my my wife would have no other way. And I and I I give it to her like she like our lives are much better because of of of what she expects. She runs a roost, right? Yeah. But you know, some of the stuff and it and it kind of makes sense. And so, you know, for some of it, it what was, you know, I I over the years I’ve realized that I am very competitive in nature. Sure. And I never really realized that when I

13:11 Was younger. And really what it was is years ago, you know, I I ran cross country and then long distance in high school. And I, you know, I wasn’t superb, but I wasn’t terrible, right? I lettered. You were chasing the pep. Yeah. Right. So, but you know, I could I could run. And then I stopped running for a long time. And then my dad and my wife and my brother and his wife ran the Rome Marathon in 2008. And for anybody who’s going to participate in a marathon, watch a marathon, be there, like go to Rome if you can. We we just like the the moon and stars aligned and away we went. But we ended up my it was my mom and I, we could hit I think we hit like five viewing places. And no matter where you’re at, you’re seeing like the most amazing coliseum, all of it, all of it. And so I was inspired after that, right? And so then all of a sudden, so I was like, well, I’m I want to run a marathon, too, right? And so I chose the easiest marathon I could, which is in Long Beach. It’s very fa flat and fast.

14:13 I’m not knocking Long Beach. If you want flat and fast, go to Long Beach. Mhm. And as I start to prepare for this and start to train for it, I start to realize like there’s like this animal like I want to I want to beat this. I want to do this. I want to go. And it was this strange sort of thing. And then my goal was I wanted to try and qualify for Boston, which I did. And then ran Boston a few times. I think I ran like five or six marathons and all. But it was through this running that I start to realize, wow, I’m kind of competitive. Well, right as the running takes off, so does I. That’s when I start to be an attorney. I get my license and things are going on. And then on the professional side, there’s this sort of area where I get to just express this sort of like urge to push and push and push. And it’s never really against somebody else, you know? I’m not saying, hey, I’m on I’m on the A team. I’m going to beat the B team, right? It’s more it’s internal. It’s internal that hey I I yesterday I ran the mile in 6 minutes

15:13 And 30 seconds and now I want an average of six minutes and 25 seconds and so it’s all of this sort of self pushing. So that’s a perfect segue into at what point did you realize what you have you you’re this competitive guy puck doesn’t come to you hustle hustle is your middle name. Yeah. Um, at what point did you go, “All right, something’s not right here.” Like, “This is not who I’m who I am anymore, or something’s gone. Something’s missing.” What’s wild is, you know, I turned I think it was about, you know, 40 didn’t really bother me. I remember everyone saying, “Oh, 40, 40, 40.” Well, either nothing. And then it was I think it was like 41 around 41. We were we were living in Missoula, Montana. It was, you know, the pandemic hit and so like we’re out of here. We got out of here. I spent a year in Missoula and uh there was this super cool old school Dairy Queen, right? Like it’s only open in the summertime. Chilly dog blizzard. Yeah, exactly. They make their own They make their own dilly bar.

16:13 Yeah. Right. And so and it was right across the street from the kids school. So I picked up the kids. We walk over this one day. It’s it’s it’s getting to be springtime. The snow is melting. Oh, the sun is going to start coming out. It’s great. And I have this just like really delicious. I think it was just like their their soft serve with like chocolate or something on it. Yeah. And I and I’m like I kind of, you know, my head kind of bobbles a little bit. My eyes blink and I’m like, “Oh, whatever.” We get home. We get, you know, the half mile walk home and I just I just crash on the couch and I start to realize I used to eat a lot of sugar like candies and whatever just sugars and all of a sudden I thought, “Wow, you know, no.” I was like, “There’s no way it’s the ice cream that did that to you know, the the sugar crash sugar filled uh Dairy Queen ice ice cream could ever have done that. And as as the years went on, the diet was, you know, it was just getting worse and worse. Um meaning what sugar would do. And then um but I always I mean I

17:15 Always ate fairly well. Uh and then, you know, about that time I had started running consistently and I was running three three miles a day, anywhere from 3 to seven days a week. and it was going good. And then as the years kind of went on, it just wasn’t enough. Uh I ended up, you know, there was a a spread of time where by like 11:00 I started having what I realized were, you know, aches in the head because somebody asked me, “Did you do you get headaches?” “Oh, I don’t get headaches.” You know, thinking like it comes from within and and goes out. Well, no. Yes. My head was aching because I’m like grinding all of the stuff. Sometimes by 11:00 a.m. my day is done. And so I would have I had like a like a a schedule of important things and then things that take no thought that had to get done. And sometimes after 11 I’m doing the things that took no thought to get done. Yeah. And it’s it’s a productivity standpoint, efficiency standpoint. When your energy dips and or you know, we

18:15 Check out. Yeah. We 100% check out as human beings. And this is our nature, right? We don’t mean to. That’s um you know that’s probably why people are fearful for a fearful of AI right because we know oh this has potential to to beat me that competitive nature for someone who’s competitive like you though like how hard is that to accept that that was going on to where maybe not you’re not you know somebody who’s self motivated doesn’t chase his puck hustle right sees Rome decides I’m come run a marathon um not your typical average guy and you’re you definitely felt average right yeah well what was it you felt average and what was weird humbled. Humbled. What’s really strange is to sit there and think I have like I’m I’m I’m thumper. I wake up at 4:00 in the morning and my baby reference. Yes. My my my foot is just bouncing ready to go. Yeah. And then you don’t have that. And that is weird. And it sucks. Yeah. And it really makes you think you’re like, “Oh my goodness, I’m not superower. My superpower is gone. I’m not old, but

19:18 I’m not young.” Yeah. And so then you really start to think, okay, this is the long haul, right? Yeah. I think that is for you too though, right? Two too many times we go, this is not just a long haul and we just at first interp interpret it for ourselves. Yeah. But I think a lot of times, especially as we get older as men, when that really comes into factor when we look at our kids. Yeah. And you know, you’re not You’re an older father, too. I’m an older father, too. Right. We’ll be in our 50s when our kids graduate high school. So, at least some of them, right? Yeah. Um Um, and there’s a certain amount of it humbles you because you know if I don’t change that I’m not going to be that that father I want to be or that even worse that grandfather. Yeah. Like I I remember some of my relationship with my grandparents was sitting down and watching TV with them. That’s how we spent time together. I I could tell you Andy Griffin show, Perry Mason show, right? Stuff that like people don’t know about anymore, but I remember because I watched them with my grandparents, right? And that’s this um I don’t want to be that way.

20:19 Yeah. Like that’s very much like how like maybe you didn’t mean to but in the beginning you definitely talked about your kids and you you spoke about them in a light in which that the importance level of them too. Right. And like how humbling is it to think about if I don’t change how I am right now, how will that look for me there? Yeah. Like if I lost my superpower now, how am I going to be in 10 years from exactly? And then what what is this? And what’s so wild about it is it’s I don’t know if it’s just thinking of mortality, if it’s if it’s morbid, but you really think like we’re at a we’re at a point when you get into your 40s where you get to make a decision. And that decision is that I’m going to hit 80, 90, maybe even 100 in good health. Or maybe you putter along into your 70s in terrible health, feeling terrible, in a terrible mood. Yeah. And I I talk about it all the time about, hey, the average life age is 74 and you know it varies and you know it’s

21:19 A couple years older than that now, but um the truth is modern medicine is going to keep your ass alive. Yeah. Well, yeah, maybe the body keep the body, but what about my mind and the actual quality of life and how the desire? So that that same sort of thumper, you know, patting in the morning, you know, ready to hit it with the kids. Yeah. That’s what I’m looking for as I get older, right? Me, too. And I I I say it jokingly, but it’s not really a joke. I’m going to beat my grandkids in a dead aspirin at seven. I’m going There you go. You just, you know, you get them when they’re two. Yeah. Hell yeah. That it’s achievable, man. Um, was there any, you know, specific warning signs that, you know, that you were trying to push through besides the headaches or anything else? You know, all of that stuff. I I would say for me and I think for most you know in my business what I see a lot of people is that when when when you have a change in anything or some sort of deficiency there’s this initial denial right it’s it’s like the the the reptilian part of that brain right that

22:19 Keeps us safe from yeah truly that you just hey if if I if I am conscious of this that means it’s real and if it’s real I have to deal with it and that’s bad and I don’t want to be bad. And it’s just this weird thing. And so for me, there was this whole sort of slight sense of denial without seeing it. Well, it’s just like, for example, my head would hurt. I would have headaches every single day, starting at least by 100 p.m. Usually, you know, it could be as early as 11:00 a.m. It could go all day long. But when somebody asked me, “Do you get headaches?” No, I don’t get headaches. Right? It’s more like, “Well, no, I don’t want to.” But you have this sort of thing. And then it was funny is that about the time I kind of started engaging in LinkedIn and moving on, I I found one of your I can’t remember what it was. One of the things right off the bat and I was like, “That looks interesting. That looks interesting.” But you know, here I’m I’m a skinny dude who runs, right? I’m a skinny dude who runs. Yeah.

23:20 I’m not lifting weights in a gym. I’d never lifted weights before, right? Never had lifted weights before. So I was like, “Okay.” And then I can’t remember there was one thing that you had. It was uh and I was like well that’s kind of interesting because it was yes it could see you’re in a weight training facility but you’re talking about like general health or nutrition or something and it was this weird my brain couldn’t couldn’t quite decipher what’s going on. I’m like wait a minute is this weight training is this nutrition? What is going on here? And so then I just kind of kind of silently watched for about a year and each time it’d pop up, you know, following and then I got the the the newsletter and then then every time it pop up I’m like I should do this. I should do this. I should do this. And I think it was about the year marker. Yeah. Right. and the year marker finally I’m finally am starting to realize well maybe being in my mid4s there is going to be a change and there is actually something that I can do about it and

24:22 It was uncomfortable because it wasn’t really what I would normally do what I should say this it was it was this is what the this is what the funny part is and what’s the kind of the ironic part is any point of being uncomfortable was in my mind before I actually talked to you. We do that as humans. It’s because we’re we’re feared of rejection. We’re feared of the unknown. Yeah. How much are can I do this? Am I going to be bad at it? Is somebody going to laugh at me? Yeah. But it’s funny. None of that ever happens. Almost at all aspects of life, right? The puck doesn’t come to you. I love keep using it in this reference because that’s life. Or you’re just talking about like if you don’t go and do it, it’s not coming to you. Yeah. Right. But one thing that I like there where we talked about you waited a year. Um, and looking back now like you know I know that’s a we already talked about we actually talked about this before the show like you know looking at time in general like six months a year it’s not as long as we we we try to anymore. You get kids and it’s just like

25:22 Yeah it’s not as much as we think as a reference guide. But what does waiting cost you? And we’re talking about in generality but what did waiting cost you too? So that’s put in two perspectives like what did waiting actually cost you there? And what do what does waiting cost overall do you think? Well, I think I mean here’s the thing is like I I’m I’m not one to have regrets and I’m I’m one that when when something happens, I have to be ready for it to happen. And for me, that’s what it was is I wasn’t ready to to be able to hit it as as hard as I knew it could be. I’m I’m the type that when I want to do something, my my brain will wrap itself around it and it could be this weird delay and people could think I have no interest, but it’s just that I’m working through it because the moment that I want to engage, I want to grab it. I want to go for it. Yeah. But what it cost me was I mean this was every single day. And I’m gonna just talk about little headaches and you know it’s not like oh the sunlight’s killing me. I can’t look at this. It’s just it’s just it’s just pain. Nagging. Nagging. It’s annoying. It made me shorttempered. Nobody wanted to be near me. You come home. You’re sitting in at

26:22 Dinner eyes half crossed looking out. Just grinding through it. Yeah. Just grind. Yeah. Literally and figuratively grinding through it all. and and without realizing that, hey, there’s there’s something better out there. There’s there’s there’s better there’s a better way. There’s something you can do about this, right? Yeah. That’s so well put because in life, we look at so many things and we we we just assume it’s got to be this way because we’re taught that. We’re so fearful of change. So fearful or just a failure. What happens when you fail? You learn. It could motivate you. You motivate, you learn from fire, right? It could make you better. You might fail at that, but what does that failure get you for somewhere else in life? What did, you know, playing hockey? You weren’t the best hockey player, but what did it teach you? Yeah. Something you’re still using as a quote today, right? What’s so wild is that I mean, it’s really thinking about the the impact of of hockey on on my my sort of mental state, my mental capacity, right? Is I remember we would when I was I think a a sophomore, you know, I was on the B team

27:22 And the A team. and the A team would always or the the the first line and the second line would always play each other and they would just throttle us. You know, it’s like we’re practicing at like 4:30 in the morning, right? At 4:30 in the morning, last thing you want to do is just get throttled every single time. So, I finally go to the coach like, “Coach, dude, what’s up? Come on. What’s up? What’s up, man?” We’re getting there and he said, he looks at me, he says, “Rory, I’ve watched you now for a few months and every game that you get beat, you learn something and you get better.” So, every time, is that what you do? Do you do you want to do you want to go to where you’re not learning something or you want to do something where you’re learning? I’m like done. Yeah. It’s it’s a when we win or get exactly where we want without without effort or any any you know like you learn nothing. It’s like the hero’s journey, right? We go through the he doesn’t become the hero till he goes to the path of the journey like origin story, right? Absolutely. We learn from our failures and we that’s what like kind of shapes our life makes us you know individuals and makes us better or try harder and too often that’s too overlooked and and so I mean what I would say is

28:22 That for me you know it’s it’s not there’s not a point that you can say oh this this surpassed me it went by train left adios can’t too late right that doesn’t happen but then also we’re not in a I wouldn’t say wait unnecessarily for anything but then for me what was the wildest thing is that I can’t remember how he reached out, whatever it was, and you called and I was like, “Wow, this is like a just a nice guy. This is this is interesting.” Yeah. And then and I remember then then I because I’m in San San Diego, I went down to your because I was finally I was like, “Look, dude, I have no idea what I’m doing. You got to show me I need to I need to see something. I need to feel it. I need to be there before I go try to go lift weights somewhere and look like an ass.” Yeah. You need to show me something. And then we did that and we went down and it was like 45 minutes and I was like, “Oh, I can do this.” Yeah, I can do this. Easy. And now you’re at a gym doing yourself. Um, speaking of which, you know, before we started working together, you know, I know you talked to your doctor. What did he kind of tell

29:22 You? What was going on with you? Was there Well, so, so here’s the wild thing is, you know, one of the things that happened kind of coincidentally right at the same time, right? Right as I was hitting the point, the peak point of calling you, I had this sort of, for lack of a better term, like this episode, right? I was sitting I I was the my neighbor runs this nice, beautiful shop, like like a a restaurant. And so I got something and I had no idea what inflammatory foods were. Yeah. Right. But basically every single thing they have is inflammatory. And so I had this big meal and all I mean it felt like I took like four shots of whiskey and I was like, whoa, that’s weird. So start researching into it and realizing that hey I’ve got like this like this stress induced intolerance to inflammatory foods. And so because before then what was wild is I had had some blood work done and they said somehow I had like high cholesterol. Well that does not run in my family. Well not only that before we met too you

30:22 You were you were a vegan there for a while. Well, you know, vegetarian eating and you know, and so or even like pescatarian, right? I had so when I get this which was almost I mean yeah have high cholesterol doing that lifestyle is almost so I’m I’m eating like a bunch of salmon and like mahi and um they tell me, “Oh, you got high cholesterol. Stop eating red meat.” And I was like, whoa, that’s going to be hard because I don’t eat red meat right now. So then I cut out all of this all anything inflammatory, which is basically everything good. nothing like everything good, but I cut out all this inflammatory foods and then but through your program I need I need protein, right? I need protein. Yeah. And so I’m eating a bunch of ribeye steaks, right? And like I can’t get enough of it. And then not just like because I need protein because I’m like I’m just like I need some ribeye. Give it to me. And uh so I’m doing that. I get tested again and the doctor, she’s like, “Wow, what are you doing?” I was like, you know, I’m eating a ribeye a day. And then I started realizing I think it was

31:22 That because like the inflammatory food would cause something which would cause something which caused something which then elevated my cholesterol, cortisol, everything was inflamed. And it was about two months I think in the program when you you were like something’s not right and we we were messing with your diet and you saw and we figured out the inflammatory stuff and yeah we you know we it was about a month in when we switched and you went all that and then it was just the change was super change. Big change and a lot of that is because without here’s the beauty is that to to understand anything you have to track it. I don’t care where you’re at, right? These are these are just maxims through the world. To understand anything, you have to track it. And so beginning to track calories, protein, food intake, uh exercise, sleep, sleep, your heart rate rate variability, everything, resting heart rate rate, you know, all the stuff that people or the sleep efficiency, you know, and I spoke about this earlier with someone else like the sleep efficiency is puzzling and because I always find it funny and then I’ve said this earlier too was we always set a time to wake up. Yeah. But we never set a time to go to bed.

32:22 You ask somebody when you go to bed, it’s usually a range of an hour or so, but when you actually start putting like stuff like, hey, I’m going to go to bed, you know, 15 minute window, like 8 8:30, you know, 8:15, 8:30, and you get efficient with it. It’s funny how when you get your body used to it, you go Oh, yeah. You go to sleep pretty quick. You lay down, you’re sleep, and you wake up, you get 8 hours, and you start getting rested because we’re habitual. Yeah. Habitual by nature. When we put ourselves into habits, it’s amazing. And it’s not like you have to do it all at once. Just small little tweaks. And that’s exactly what you do. Little steps. That’s exactly what you do. And from what you did, from just where you started and where you’re now, like how big of a difference of a feeling is it from an energy standpoint? And energy-wise, it’s it’s it’s huge. You know, I’m getting back to where I, you know, thumper ready to go in the morning. And then, but more than that, ready to ready to really push throughout the day, and that’s the big thing. And that and I, you know, one thing I remember, you know, running was my running was my only sort of release. Yeah. And I remember I I told you, well, I’m a runner. And you said, well, you got to stop doing that. I know. So, that was a hard conversation. It was like, what do you

33:23 Mean I’m going to lose weight? Lose fat by running, not running. But now, I mean, it’s great. This is the one thing that I didn’t realize is how how awesome it is lifting weights. And like the the the workout that you get and you never lifted. And I never lifted anything. And so, you were how old when you started? 46. 46. Did you feel And this is just more for anybody who’s listening. How uncomfortable were you when the first time you walked in? Well, when I w Well, this is what I’m saying is I I I would not walk in anywhere until I walked into to to your place. Sure. And you showed me and then you even told me then you’re like, “Hey, look, go to any gym. You’re going to realize no, you’re going to what your words were, nobody’s paying attention to you. They’re paying attention to themselves 100%.” And I walk in, unless you’re doing something crazy if you’re doing like a upside down pull-up or something that what the hell is this dude doing? But more than that, and so I walk in. Exactly. And then um I just went to a local gym that I can walk to because that convenience for me efficiency and

34:24 Super nice. You know, everybody’s there for their they have their own reasons for being there and that’s why they’re there. Yeah. 100%. That’s what it is. To better themselves. Yeah. What’s funny is like usually the nicest people at the gym are the best people the people are in the best shape. They’re the ones most willing to help like hey this cuz they’ve been there. And you told me that and I was like this is this is BS. But no, you’re spot on. Yeah, you’re spot on. You’re right. And so getting into kind of the habit of doing it and so then the body can be can it’s like it’s like waiting for that workout time, right? Because that was I mean for my running it was, you know, three miles would do it. That was I needed three miles would clear the head a little bit. It wasn’t doing everything I needed, but it I’m getting even better feelings from working out than not. So, here’s one thing, Wild, that I I did not ever think even think about, but because I always thought, well, hey, I eat well and I run. I’m a runner. I run. I run. I run. I run. I run. All of these things. But what I started to think is about as a runner, you the goal is to be as

35:25 Efficient as possible. So, that means my core is engaged. But more than that, I don’t want to use muscles, right? I just want like if I’m using muscles, it’s it’s creating restriction, tension. Yeah. tension which can cause injury. So the goal I mean of course there’s some tension but it’s repetitive but it’s and it’s repetitive and what I realized is it it is not just repetitive but the exact same motion. Yep. And what I didn’t think about is, you know, like yoga, if you go up in yoga, you go down. In yoga, if you go left, then you go right. And because you need to make use of everything. All of these joints do these funky things. The body, you know, like it’s like Leonardo DiCaprio dancing in the right. That’s what Wall Street. Yeah. You need that body to better that better better movie reference than Bambi over here. But you need that movement. And that’s what I that was one of the biggest things for me with lifting weights is realizing all of these different movements, the slow steady movements,

36:26 It’s working different parts of the body. Yeah. What’s even crazier if I said like, you know, you started probably like May of last year or June, I forget which one. Probably June. I told you in April, hey, you’re going to eat more calories in a day. You’re going to do less cardio and you’re gonna have more energy and you’re gonna We have the photos. Yeah, I could tell you which guy looks better. You weigh 15 pounds more. You have a six-pack now. You have more energy. You eat more. You do less cardio. And your RHR, your resting heart rate, your HRB, everything’s improved. Yeah. Would you have believed me? No. No. Not at all. Not one little bit. And I think that’s the big thing. But it was for me is like because I had no exposure to it beforehand. I just I I had no idea what it was, right? I just thought, “Oh, it’s a bunch of meattheads going to work out or whatever.” Well, uh I will pride myself. I I always say like I don’t do gym bro It’s always it’s it’s data. It’s analytics. It’s it’s it’s blood work that we do.

37:26 It’s it’s a full- encompassing program because if you when you when you have the data to back up, there’s no guessing. Yeah. Right. when when we can see things and we can see, you know, two weeks of data. Hey, this is working. This isn’t. Let’s change. Let’s do this. Let’s do that. And then it’s just like no difference in you with a law firm. When you build a case, you have to do it systematically. If you just go in there guessing and throwing stuff, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t. If you just, you know, you want to just throw spaghetti up, that’s good for knowing when your spaghetti is done, but not for this sort of stuff. Yeah. And that’s, you know, and that that’ll take me to a good point here, too. Obviously, you you obviously are good at figuring stuff out, you know, building your own firm, being successful there. Um, what was it like having someone in your corner like this? Well, I was actually surprised because I I’m My wife jokes that I kind of like to do things on my own. Sure. Like I and and what was more than anything is that I hate people telling me what to do. I hate my calendar telling me what to do. But somehow with this like the app tracking everything, I loved it because I could I could see the

38:27 Direct consequence, right? what the data meant, the direct consequence. The first thing that happened the first two weeks, it was impossible, it seemed, for me to hit the calorie count and to hit the protein count. And I realized quickly I have been unintentionally starving my body 100% for years. People don’t realize that. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you’re a high performer. Yeah. you the the amount of like obviously I wouldn’t want anybody to run the in the nature you were but the amount of cares you were creating on your body and what were you replacing it with nothing just nothing nothing good you know I mean my two giant bowls of ice cream every night that wasn’t cutting it no right and so taking it back you know you didn’t like the people on the calendar telling you the calendar talking much of that but what was it feeling like having the person there cuz obviously you you know at this point like if you ask ask me a question. The response rate is almost probably ridiculous what people would expect. Yeah. Yeah. It it actually was very

39:27 Good. So, one, not just like because you got you got a bunch of gear spinning up, right? Clicking all these things. And at first, I remember some of it was like, okay, hey, particularly in the workout, right? Taking it piece by piece with the workouts. That is amazing, right? Because I don’t necessarily need somebody there showing me exactly what to do or over my shoulder. I like to figure things out myself and videos for each of them. I mean, you’re just spoon feed me with stuff. The videos, most of them are view. And so I’d watch you’re like, “Okay, okay. Oh, no. Elbow in.” You know, you can you see where you’re going. Nice and slow, steady. You know the reps. You know what you’re supposed to do. You know, it tracks everything for the past. So, you know, ex, hey, what did I do last week in here? Was it this? Oh, here it is. Boom, boom, boom. And then so workout wise and then the other thing is you’re on a you’re on a clock. You’re on this timer. And then so for me some days that you can sit there and think, “Hey, I’m going to take an extra little m extra breather here.” And

40:27 Then I look, I’m like, “Oh, wait a minute.” But if I if I if I slow down right now, I’m going to be five minutes over my last workout. And I don’t want to be five minutes over my last workout. Competitive nature, right? Come back to the competitive nature leads into that. That’s what’s great. Self-competitive and then somebody there watching it. Yeah. and in a very nice and caring way saying, “Hey, you know, this was your heart rate needs to go up.” Right? I mean, what I interpret that is is stop being lazy and get to it, buddy. That’s a nice way to put it. That’s a nice way to put, “Oh, hey, your heart rate needs to go up a little bit more.” Might be wording a little different than that the more I get to know you. But, but so that sort of stuff. So, you got somebody in your corner there being like, “Hey, even though you’re not there,” and it’s weird because it’s like, I don’t want somebody over my shoulder. I don’t. But, you’re you are in a sense because you can see it in real time. me to cricket. We go walk down. Yeah. Exact. Yes. Exactly. Pinocchios. Yeah. Um so you’re used to handling objections too obviously. So like you know cases, clients, step positions,

41:27 Family. How easy is it to fit in something into your lifestyle? You know, I would say this, right? It’s it it takes a dedication. It takes a dedication, right? Because I’ve got, you know, four days a week I got like 45 minutes an hour where I’m going to this stuff. And then with the food, tracking it, all of that stuff. But one thing that I like and that what I need is, you know, anything easy to me isn’t worth the time. Sure. It isn’t worth the time. And if you want something easy, then then go good luck finding it because there ain’t no free lunch in this world. No. Not no. And so what I I what I like about it is it’s this challenge of saying hey because first off you have to kind of there’s this sort of philosophical sort of conversation that you have to have with yourself and that is all right I’ve hit a certain age I’ve slowed down a little bit unnecessarily but if I you see the path if I make certain changes if I give up something

42:28 And and work for for something I can have that greatness feeling. again. And that’s what this is is. And so in that case, it’s easy for me to carve the time out. It it’s Yeah. And I think too what what this allows it, you know, the traditional like having someone over your shoulder is is um it doesn’t have to be a set time. Like it doesn’t have to all right, my trainer’s at 11 p.m. I got to go there now. Oh You know, I just got hit with, you know, exparte. I got to be in the courthouse here in an hour. I got to miss that. Yeah. Okay, cool. Oh, then I’m just going to move my workout or you you change it when you need to because it adapts to the person. Yes. Cuz you know your travel schedule the last two months have been the same. And we still adapt for it. And so I try I mean just for myself I try to keep the times about the same because that’s just kind of good for me but it’s good for but flexibility. Flexibility. And then so kind of getting back to is it just comes down to it. It’s not easy but if it was easy I I would I I want nothing to do with it. And so, but what I like is because because to get some to get value out of

43:29 Anything, you have to see why it is that you’re doing it. And so, if something is difficult, if you have to move a schedule, if you have to, you know, take that extra time to do it, there’s there’s a benefit to it and there’s a reason to it. And the harder it may be, the more of a reason there is. And so, in that sense, it’s been very easy for me to fit all of this in. And then, it’s just fascinating. It’s just fascinating tracking everything. it. And obviously since you’ve been with me, the evolution of what I’ve been able to do and provide is night and day. Like you can push a button now and I you have data in your hand immediately now on a daily basis now on the um but but outside of just that like you you’ve had a you’ve had a metamorphosis or a transformation how you want to put it like from the way you consume food, the way you approach life. Um what let’s just talk physical changes. What physical changes have you noticed? Well, one is that like my body feels a lot better. You know, I’ve always had the skinny guys have kind of low back

44:30 Pain for the most part. Like just it’s just there. But this is because I’m I’m I’m truly moving my body. You know, I’m the Wolf of Wall Street moving around without scrolling people on the penny stocks, right? But, you know, you’re moving around, you’re doing all this stuff, you’re working the body that just out of the gate without, you know, without opening your eyes, you’re there. And then, you know, I will never be a huge person. It’s just unless I’m unless steroids start to come in, which no thank you. Yeah. But I’m just not gonna be big. But man, like one day I put these shorts on after I think about four months in I put these shorts on. I was like, “Whoa, these are tight, right?” Cuz realizing that the legs are getting big, like you look in the mirror and you just you just look cut. Yeah. So we don’t even notice it sometimes. It’s such a subconscious thing of where you know, you talked about my legs feel bigger. Um it does something different to us because when we walk in a room we feel different. We might you know approach things in a sense of where because confidence goes such a long way. Yeah. Like

45:31 To approach a girl to go do anything in life sometimes it takes like that certain level of like I can do this and when you have that confidence it creates something in us. So when we do things we just we’re naturally a little better at it. Do you Yeah. Yeah, I mean if you you look at you know the other thing I love to read is Napoleon Hill, right? You look at old school Napoleon Hill stuff and that’s everything is about the pleasing personality and how if you exude confidence and if you can kind of go into something and Absolutely. So some of it has to do with you know for me it’s twofold. One is that you know your body starts to look better, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. You know what I mean? And I was always one that I’m just there’s there’s no meat on me. So I could go do 30 sit-ups and you could start to see the formation of muscles, right? But still, you know, I had like, you know, the the back, the shoulders, it just like it it just looked lacking. As you start to get older, you know, you start to hunch over a little bit and it just looks worse and worse. And so to really look in the mirror and say, “Wow,” you know, so one is that yes, I look good. I feel good. I look good. But for me more than anything is the accomplishment of saying I’ve

46:33 Never done this and now I’m becoming, you know, a pro at it. you know, I’m not saying I’m gonna go, you know, compete compete, but you know, like like I can walk into to to the gym and feel confident. Feel confident. I know what I need to do. I I know what I can’t do, but I know what I can do. And so to be a and why it is and what it does and that sort of that sort of feeling is is fantastic. Yeah. And then and then for me, I can tie it directly to how just overall I feel better. Then when you’re done working out, I mean, I feel better than than any sort of run that I’ve had. And I and I say this all the time. It gives you something that like money can’t buy that. No. Like you talked about it earlier like you know you can’t no free lunch. You can you can’t buy that feeling like that’s you have to earn it. Yeah. And the way it makes you feel is way different than going and buying something. Yeah. because you because you you know when you done it you’ve accomplished

47:33 Something well and you know that’s one of the things that drew me to marathons I didn’t I didn’t quite understand it with the first marathon because when you you haven’t done it you don’t know it but even the the training difference between a half marathon and a marathon it’s like five times harder the training aspect of it and to do it it’s four months long and by the end of it you’re running like I would run like I think it was five miles eight miles, five miles, and 17 miles on the weekend. And you can’t just I couldn’t just get up and do that. Right. Right now, I could get up and maybe do two miles. But for me, what I love is that that longterm of the only way you can climb this mountain is if you take each individual steps. And that’s where we’re at right now. Yeah, I agree. But even with those small steps that you’ve been taking, how much has your energy and focus changed? And how much do you show up differently, you know, in court, your clients, and your family? Well, I first off, you know, and this and here’s the beauty of it is that I

48:34 Think it’s not just one thing, right? You know, because when you start focusing on your calorie count, your your your fat intake, your carbs, your protein, how and then you really start to think, okay, if I eat something, how do I feel afterwards? Or you may not try to make that connection. Then when you’re working out, then when you’re tracking all of these other items that are that we track through all of this stuff, it really makes you it made me realize that yeah, it was like sometimes 11:00 a.m. that I was my brain was crapping out on me because it was just it just like my eyes would feel burning. I got this head. So all of a sudden that’s gone because because of the whole kind of comprehensive approach, you’re looking at tweaking everything within it. And I think it’s easier to do too because of perspective of you’re not doing it all. Yeah. You’re literally just entering your food and you’re literally just entering your workout. All the rest is done for you. Yeah. And it’s given it to you in uh a very consumable approach. it’s given in a consumable approach and then if there’s

49:35 Something else I want to know about for instance acronyms uh you just you can search it and you can look it and then for me I can I can search it with a direct connection because the other thing is that I don’t like fake things you know like people that like the the mock trials or the mock things like I want I want the I want the intensity of there’s consequences and so to be able to have that and to be able to reach back and kind of understand what it means and make that connection for me is fantastic. Yeah. And you know, we get to see that all we get to see your your rim sleep, your efficiency, your all of it is just included and it gives you a holistic approach. You we we do our blood work with all that. It gives us it’s about you as an indiv. Well, I can’t remember what it was. I did I did something and you would like immediately responded and it was like you know like the like somebody in the shadows watching me. I was like how do you know that? And I was like, “Oh.” Because all of it’s entered in. It was just kind of funny, but it was spot on. And so for me, that’s it is that it has

50:35 Yes. more energy, uh, more and and then it’s so it’s like more energy throughout the day and then, you know, you work out and then so I’ve I’ve timed mine to where I get my like really production work done, the tough stuff in the mornings, afternoons do this, and so then when I go home, I’ve burned off all that bad stuff. Bad ju bad juju is gone. And I mean most of it, some of it’s still there. Look, we’re human, right? And we I’ve talked about this so many times, but you know, we make the small changes and through time, we don’t notice them, right? Because you’re focused on the macro. You’re focused on this and then now and you probably look back now and go because you know, we’re not a year yet. We’re about nine months. Who the hell was that guy? You don’t even realize who it was. If you look back, you know, a year ago, two years ago, like what what would you tell that guy compared to the guy you are now? What do you know now? Well, I would say that just do it. You know, when I was when I was when I was looking there, you know, here’s the thing.

51:35 Why was it that I tagged it, connected with you, whatever it was on on LinkedIn? Because deep down, I knew something was there. I knew there was I knew that there was a deficiency in my body in my life that I wasn’t willing to kind of overtly absolutely say and I knew that somehow there was something that you were saying that was resonating with me and so what I would say is that when you when you are in that spot because this is what happens you know you can’t in your 40s you can’t live your life like a 20-year-old you can there’s repercussions yeah there’s some serious repercussions there’s some serious repercussions right but even If you even if you try, it’s a it’s a terrible existence because you’re just you’re not like you need to be a mean, lean, clean, burning machine. Yeah. And so it’s one of these things, you know, don’t get on yourself if you if you start to do it and you think you kind of hold back because you got to be ready for it, but just jump. And I think it’s important too, like especially with you, like when you came

52:35 Into the program, you weren’t somebody who was doing all this crazy stuff like we were talking about, hey, I couldn’t live in the 20s and 40s. I just want to make sure you were not living that life. Well, you didn’t drink. You didn’t eat red meat. You didn’t go out. Like you lived what most people look at, oh that dude’s living like about the healthiest lifestyle as possible. Yeah. But don’t eat out don’t eat rarely eat out. Don’t eat fast food. It been years since you had had a drink. Oh yeah. Yeah. I quit. You know, we we my wife and I tried this thing about four or five years ago where we just went like a month without drinking. I had such sugar like like ridiculous sugar withdrawals. I was eating a box of juji fruits a day. sometimes two cuz I’m like oh those juji fruits give them to me and then I was like whoa that is crazy that’s crazy and then somebody told me like oh yeah you gota that just takes a while and so I thought man that’s that’s too much sugar that does that to me what I know and then you start thinking about oh sugar eats the eyes eventually it’s like that sugar is bad stuff I mean hey don’t get me wrong I’ll still I not nearly as much but but I just want to make sure like you

53:36 Weren’t no I was this is the thing is I was healthy eating no drinking no going out like family focused, business focused, like there was nothing people look at, oh, that dude needs to obviously go get a coach to do something. Yeah. No, but it but those that those that watch it and if there’s something that resonates with them, they’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. And even if they’re not, you know, you’re not perfect, but when you’re sitting there in your 40s and you’re just like, “Hey, I’ve lost a slight step.” And I don’t want to say I lost it, but I’ve misplaced Yeah. a step. And and we said it earlier, you felt average for Rory. Yeah. Yeah. Not not not anybody else. You weren’t comparing yourself to anybody else. You were looking inner and saying, “I don’t feel like I should. I’m not where I should be. I don’t feel like Yeah. Exactly. Cuz I don’t care about other people. The other people aren’t going to do anything except for your clients.” Well, yeah. Well, no. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. But with respect to with respect to like com like like some sort of competition about who eats better or who lifts more, who whatever. I’m not concerned about that. The better way to say is I’m not concerned about that. What I’m concerned

54:37 About is me. Yeah. and how how do I process things and and am I getting that fulfillment? Because there is a fulfillment in setting a goal and achieving it. Yeah. So, you’re beating your grandkid. Yeah. 70 years old, desperate, too. I’ve got my grandfather is 100, turned 100 in August. This guy is sharp as that. He Yeah. He was just Wikipedia celebrated their 25th uh anniversary. He was a part of it and they interviewed him and he’s like dancing the ballroom danced a little bit. And so I’m thinking, hey, I’ve got good jeans. Yeah. Because, and for anybody who obviously doesn’t know this, like your grandfather picked up being a Wikipedia guy like 75, right? At 86. 86, he started editing for Wikipedia. That’s so crazy. 86. And so you think you’re like, hey, if I hit 86, I’m going to be a Wikipedia editor. I I want maybe I won’t do a Wikipedia, but I want the physical and mental ability to be able to do that. Um, as an attorney, you you evaluate risk and return every day. What’s a case for making an investment like this in

55:38 You know yourself and or just your overall health or it and it’s one way to say hey I’m making an investment for myself but you’re also making an investment for yourself for your future for your children for more than just the initial investment of your health. Well, I would say this. I would look at the the investment, the word investment in two stages. There is there’s money investment and then there’s time investment. And I will tell you the money it’s it is always right. You can always make more money. Yeah. It it and it is pennies. It is nothing. Like that is it is when you think about okay, so let’s say you’re not feeling good. Oh, I’m gonna go get a massage or I’m gonna go do something else. I’m gonna go away for the weekend. I’m gonna do something. Well, one trip somewhere is going to cost more than six months with you. Yeah. Right. And so then it comes down to the time uh and dedication investment, right? And now that like everything in life, life is you get out of life what you put into it. So if you’re looking for a lot, if you expect a lot, then you

56:40 You better expect to put a lot into it. And then I mean it’s it’s for me it is looking at riskreward. You’re you’re losing by not doing something like this, right? As you get older, you have to change with the times. You have to make adjustments. And if you don’t, you’re going to be worse off for it. And yeah, so the cost of not doing it Oh, it’s way it’s the cost of doing Yes. The cost of doing it is nothing compared to the alternative. Correct. You know, I I I want to end with this, you know, because family has been something that, you know, you’ve said multiple times in here that’s impactful for me from your grandfather, from from your children to your wife who runs the roost. Um, what have they noticed about you? And listening on that, what have they noticed about you that really hits home that they said or is there anything that you can think of that’s like, man, they’re noticing or Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. One is that, you know, my kid my kids will say at

57:40 Dinner time they they they’re a nice way of saying is that I’m I’m I’m more present. I’m nicer, right? Because I mean I can still be kind of short-tempered sometimes, but still, you know, that fuse is a lot longer, right? Yeah. Except you’re like, “Hey, this is the fourth time I told you. That’s it.” But but you have you have all that. I have more. And for me, what it is is it’s that you look at you have 24 hours in a day. You’ve got what hopefully eight of it you’re sleeping eight of it you don’t see your kids or more because they’re in school you’re in work and so you have this it’s it’s finite this finite time and it’s just like a kick in the teeth because it’s the finite time when it’s I’m I’m at my worst at night right my kids were up at 4 a.m. There’s all sorts of stuff we could do, but I’m at my worst at night. And what it’s done for me is it made me a hell of a lot better during that little section of time. And so with the family time with, hey, you going to go down to the beach? Just go go for a drive. Yeah, let’s do it. You know, I’m saying yes a lot more

58:40 As opposed to I don’t want to do that, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. The kids notice it, right? I can see it in their eyes. I can see it in their expressions. I can see it in the way that they we interact with each other. My wife, you know, she noticed. She says, “Whoa, my my husband’s got muscles now.” Right. That never hurts. Yeah, I know. Especially for the skinny guy. Right. So, looking better, feeling better, um better mental state. It’s fantastic. Yeah. And that that’s well put. And you know, I just want to thank you for coming on and just say we’re all better for hearing something from like you know, a person with your your your humbleness cuz you you might not come across that way, but you’re very humble with go try out and you know, not let the puck come to you and that hustle and just being able to see what kind of example you can provide to your family is uh something we can all take a little something from. So, thank you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. It’s been fun. Rory, thank you, man. I think a lot of guys watching this needed to hear your story. And here’s what I hope you take away from this conversation. You’re not

59:40 Broken. You’re misaligned. The fatigue, the brain fog, that stress, those aren’t signs that you’re failing. There are signals that something needs to change. And most of it is reversible. Rory came in wanting to make a physical change. What he got was much more. Better energy, sharper focus, stronger relationships at home. That’s what happens when body, mind, and spirit get back in alignment. And look, I know some of you are thinking, “I’m too busy. I’ll do it later.” But here’s the hard truth. Your kids, they don’t want your money. They just want you to play with them. And that window is closing. You’ve got what, five, six summers left where they actually want to hang with you. Don’t waste another year watching from the sidelines. If Rory’s story sounds like yours, if you’re a high performing professional who knows you’re not operating at your best, I want you to know that meaningful change is possible. You don’t have to figure it out alone. We’re currently opening up to a small group of men who are ready to operate at

60:40 Full capacity. If you want to learn more about working with me and my team, go to my website and schedule a free strategy call. We’ll look at where you are, where you want to be, and whether we’re the right fit to help you get there. No pressure, no pitch, just a real conversation. And here’s my promise. If we can’t improve your sleep, your energy, and your performance in the first 30 days, you don’t pay. That’s how confident I am in what we do. This is the first episode of No Hype, Just Standards. And we’re just getting started. Every week, we’ll have conversations just like this one. Real stories from real guys who decided to stop settling and start performing at the level that they know that they’re capable of. If this conversation meant something to you, subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you listen and share it with someone who needs to hear it. You know the guy, send it to him. And remember, you cannot lead others if you’re running on empty. Empower your body. Invest in yourself. I’m Zac Armstrong. I’ll see you next week.

61:45 H oh hey.

Questions this episode answers

Who is Rory Pendergast?

The founder of the Pendergast Law Firm, a boutique personal injury practice in San Diego he started in 2015 after a partnership and a job with another attorney. He was born and raised in Montana, spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala where he met his wife, graduated from law school in San Diego in 2009, and has three children aged six, nine, and eleven at the time of recording. He has run the Boston Marathon several times. He was 46 when he started the program and had been in it about nine months when this was recorded, as the first guest on the first episode of No Hype, Just Standards.

What were his symptoms?

A headache every day, usually starting around 11 a.m. and sometimes lasting all day, which he denied having when asked. Energy that was gone by late morning, so that he scheduled his no-thought tasks for the afternoon. A short temper his family noticed. The loss of what he calls his superpower, the 4 a.m. readiness that had defined him. And a crash after a single restaurant meal that felt like four shots of whiskey, which is how he learned about inflammatory foods.

Was he unhealthy before?

By most standards, no. He did not drink, had not for years. He ate no red meat and was largely pescatarian. He rarely ate out and never ate fast food. He ran three miles a day, three to seven days a week. Zac makes the point deliberately: this is a man everyone would describe as living about as healthy a life as possible, and he still felt average for himself. His bloodwork had also shown high cholesterol, which does not run in his family and which the standard advice, stop eating red meat, could not explain.

What did the program change first?

The food. In the first two weeks he could not hit the calorie or protein targets and realized he had been unintentionally starving himself for years, running daily and replacing what he burned with two bowls of ice cream. About a month in, the inflammation pattern was identified and his diet was rebuilt around protein, including a ribeye most days. He was also told to stop running in order to lose fat, which he describes as a hard conversation, and started lifting weights for the first time in his life at 46.

Why does he say running was not enough?

Because a runner is trying to be efficient: engage the core, use as few muscles as possible, and repeat one identical motion thousands of times, which is where the tension and injuries come from. Lifting moves the body in every direction, works parts of it that running never touched, fixed the low back pain skinny guys carry, and, to his surprise, leaves him feeling better afterward than any run did.

How did he fit it into a law practice?

Four sessions a week of 45 minutes to an hour at a gym he can walk to, plus tracking food. It moves when a court date moves, because the program adapts to the week rather than the other way round. He says anything easy is not worth his time, that there is no free lunch, and that if you expect a lot from something you had better expect to put a lot into it. The hard part was the philosophical conversation with himself: he had slowed down, and if he gave something up and worked, he could have the feeling of greatness again.

What are his results?

Nine months in, by his own account: fifteen pounds heavier while eating more and doing less cardio, a six-pack, legs that no longer fit his old shorts, improved resting heart rate and HRV, low back pain gone, and no more 11 a.m. crash. He does his hardest work in the morning and trains in the afternoon so the stress is gone by the time he gets home. His kids say he is more present and nicer at dinner, and his wife says he has muscles now. Individual results vary.

What does he say about the cost?

That there are two investments, money and time, and the money is pennies: one weekend trip costs more than six months of coaching. The time and dedication are the real investment, and you get out of life what you put in. As an attorney who weighs risk and return every day, his conclusion is that you lose by not doing something like this as you age, and the cost of doing it is nothing compared with the alternative.

Next step

Start with a call.

Forty-five minutes with an advisor: where you are, what the data would show, which coach fits, and whether the program is right for you. If it is not, you will be told.

Book a call

The call is free. HSA and FSA funds may apply to the program, depending on your plan.