How He Lost 92 Lbs & Escaped The "Sick Care" Medical Model

Randall Norwood hit 300+ pounds and was facing a lifetime of blood pressure and cholesterol medication. Instead of surrendering to the modern “sick care” model, he executed a 92-pound weight loss transformation and completely rebuilt his physical standard.

“That is not aging. That is refusing to rot.”

In this episode of No Hype, Just Standards, Zac Armstrong sits down with Randall, a high-performing medical sales professional. Randall shares the “dark chapter” where his health and finances deteriorated, and the exact data-driven framework he used to get his edge back and return to officiating collegiate basketball.

Inside this conversation:

Stop settling for “in-range” blood work and start living to a standard.

Transcript

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

0:00 One day you look in the mirror, Zach, and you don’t recognize who that person is staring back at. Sure. Randall Norwood is a son of a military man. And if you grew up in a house like that, you know exactly what that means. There was a standard. It was not optional. Discipline, integrity, accountability. Those were not suggestions. Those were the operating system. Randle took that operating system into a career that most people could not even map. Recreation therapy at a state hospital to sales and in HR technology and now in sales of medical devices at a major corporation. He has been performing at a high level across multiple industries for years. But there was a season where the performance and the person they didn’t match. Rendle went through a darker chapter in his life. And the thing that pulled him out of it, it was not a new training plan or a motivational speech. It was his faith. When Randall got right spiritually, the rest followed. He connected with me

1:01 Through LinkedIn. He found a nutrition mentor, a close friend that pointed him into the right direction. And one by one, the structure that his father had modeled for him as a kid came back into his life. Not because he went looking for a program, because he got aligned and then the right people showed up. The results speak for themselves. He dropped weight. He sleeps better. He has the endurance to pursue his goal of becoming a collegiate basketball official. And the confidence and sharpness that came out of that rebuild, it played a direct role into landing the career that he has now on medical devices. That is not aging. That is refusing to rot. I’m Zach Armstrong, former Marine, naval officer, fighter pilot, turned performance coach. This is no height, just standards. And today, Randall is going to walk us through what it looks like when a man stops trying to control everything on his own and he gets aligned spiritually and then he executes with the kind of discipline that his father built into him from day one. If you’re in the middle of your own rebuild, this one is

2:01 For you. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you listen and let’s get into this. Hey Randall, again, thank you for showing uh coming on the show today. So, let’s get right into it. You know, uh tell me about your father. uh what branch was he in and what was your house uh household like growing up? Yeah, Zach, thanks for having me. Excited about our conversation today. Um my father uh Travis Norwood was a uh master sergeant air force and so you can imagine growing up in the household it was you know yes sir, no sir and so uh you know that was something that you know even even my peers right it was just such a standard way of speaking and so you know he uh had structure you know and foundation for for me and he wanted to make sure that you know um just all the way around you know the way I wore my clothes you know how I wore my hat you know how I presented myself was was done in a professional manner you know that that that would something he would be I’d be proud of, you know, now I wasn’t quite in the military. You know, I never was a veteran myself, but you know, it sort of certainly felt like I was, you know, in the household. So, yeah, sounds like it. What What kind of values do you think he instilled in you

3:03 Growing up? Well, I’ll say primarily, you know, he started, you know, he was a man of faith, you know, and uh a lot of our conversations I I started to appreciate it more as I matured into a man because we’d have, you know, conversations like anybody with with their parents about, you know, sports or different things, but he’d always tie back, you know, to the word of God. And so, you know, I grew up, you know, understanding that everything that I would approach that there was a standard and a a foundation from the word. And so the the main value that he gave to me was to live my life based off of faith and in an approach that that I had purpose, you know, and so I’ve always been a very purpose- driven, you know, individual. And that has really impacted my life in multiple ways. Um, you know, personal relationships, professional, and and and everything else surrounding that, right? And so there’s a especially with our parents, uh, sometimes it’s the parents are, you know, just being hard on you because they don’t know better. And then there’s some times where the parent is being hard on you to try to instill something into you.

4:03 Mhm. What do you think your father was doing and what does that mean to you? Well, you know, it’s interesting, you know, not just, you know, recently, you know, reaching a milestone of turning 40 and um I see things through a lens that I obviously we talk about the natural progression, right, of maturing and you know, your parent I know my dad at least he would always say, you know, you may not understand this now, but you understand it later. and and I you know see that more than ever now and so very easy to absolutely and so there are just a lot of you know nuances and things where you know he was being really hard on me and and making me live a life of discipline but he was seeing life through a lens that I wasn’t seeing it through yet which I’m you know starting to see more now and so he was preparing me even at that young age where you have to get to them you know to your children when they’re younger um because that’s the impressionable stage sure I mean we learn a lot of what we do in life at a young age and we don’t realize how much impact back, you know, what are one or two things that you remember as a child that you feel like I can look back now and oh man, that was something my dad taught me. Yeah, I would say so work ethic, right?

5:04 So after he retired from the military, um he started his own business. Um and so I never thought of myself to be like an entrepreneur, right? Or even a business-minded person. And so I’m in sales now. And so I look back at those times where, you know, he would say, “Hey, your birthday and the holidays are just another day, right?” And like everybody else, hey, I’m wanting to go, you know, let’s go party and have fun and do things. But we’re out there. He was a professional landscaper and we’re out there cutting somebody’s yard on Christmas Eve while they’re having a Christmas Eve party. And so we’re the ones working. But I understood that you have to have that framework where until you accomplish what it is that you need to do for you and build, you know, your household up, you can’t go have that life because a lot of people try to have a life without the work and it’s out of balance. There’s no fake it till you make it with you. Yeah. So yeah. So it’s pretty straight straightforward, straight to it. I would say that for sure. Uh, so you started off as a recreation therapist at Mississippi, uh, Mississippi hospital. How did you end up there? So, um, when I was in college, I worked with the, uh, athletic program. So, I worked with football in the fall, softball in the spring, and so, um,

6:04 Ended up doing my master’s program in health and recreation. And so, the natural kind of progression was, hey, you know, I had a biology degree and for my bachelor’s, so mental health recreation, right, kind of makes sense. And so, I wanted to give that a try. Um and and I was working in a a elderly population with dementia, you know, residents, which actually ties in to kind of what I’m doing um today because there were a lot of veterans. It was a state, you know, run hospital. And so, um so I was able to go out there and I knew someone who um uh was in personnel there and then he said there was a job opening. So I applied and I did that for a few years and and it was very impactful um as a kind of the real start to my career. Right. Speaking of your career, can you kind of walk me through how that slipped for you and how it’s went along? Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, starting with that kind of mental health, you know, wreck therapist job, I was I had the opportunity to coach a little bit as um when I was in grad school and that kind of led to a director of operations role, assistant softball coach role while I was at Jackson State University in my alma mater. And so, when I left there and went to the mental health recreation therapy, I knew that I wanted to do something that I could, you know, the

7:05 First sales job I ever had, um the the hiring manager said, you know, why do you work, right? And everybody wants to give this profound answer. You work to make money, right? Because at the end of at the end of the day, right? I mean, you know, and so and so free over here. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so I never thought I’d be in sales, right? Cuz you know, commission and people get kind of leery when your performance and your metrics, they want that base salary that that’s solid, right? Security. It’s security. Absolutely. And so when I got into sales, I fell in love with it. You know, just kind of my personality, you know, I bring my dad back up. He was a very charismatic person. And so, you know, I was able to kind of maybe pick that up from him more so than I even knew. And so sales fit. And so I, you know, uh, had a couple of early sales roles and I knew with my biology, you know, background that I wanted to maybe get into medical sales one day. And so the right opportunity kind of came along. But, um, I know some people you can’t worry about, you know, comparing yourself to others, right? And so my trajectory is maybe a little bit non-traditional and a lot of times you’ll see medical sales professionals that have been in it right out of college or the internship, right? And so

8:05 My route was more so through some variety of different sales roles and then I was able to kind of get the sales acument and develop myself to be prepared for medical sales and this is what I’m doing now. Okay. Um was there anything that stuck out to you about any of these roles or where you were moving along and how you saw personal growth? 100%. Learning how to build relationships and become emotionally intelligent on how to, you know, influence people, you know. Um I think sales reps often times get a get a bad rap almost like you know people say uh you’re a used car salesman you know sometimes 100%. Yeah, it’s instilled from us talking about childhood like don’t be a salesman. Right. It’s really what we’re trying to say is don’t be disingenuine, right? And that’s the way a lot of people come across in sales and they don’t mean to be but absolutely and and and I can see why the inhibition lies there because you do if you’re a good sales rep you have to have influence and there’s a difference between influence and manipulation, right? Yeah. Yeah. So ethical, unethical, 100%. Right. And so there is a a level of where you are manipulating if you’re

9:06 A good sales rep. But if you’re asking the right questions and understanding what matters to people, then you’re influencing. You’re not necessarily you obviously, you know, you’re you have goals and metrics you have to hit. But hopefully you take a sales job where you have something that you’re selling that’s a quality product and there’s a need for that product. And when you identify that need and understand what motivates people, um, that helps you in all aspects of your life, not just in sales. Um because you know I know a lot of times I see different you know videos and you know social media where you know um couples are going out for you know to get something to eat and we’re trying to figure out you know where we’re going to go and if you just ask a question and say you’ll never believe Zach what I have a taste for and then when I get you to say you know oh you want you know uh a certain burger joint or something like that right now like absolutely that’s what I was thinking and now that’s where the manipulation comes in right because that may have not been what I was thinking but if I get you to give me the answer and then I go with that answer. Now I’ve influenced you and you didn’t even realize it. And let’s talk about this like so obviously career moving along. Where did

10:06 You find yourself? Like you know there’s not a real timeline put to where you’re talking about right now. Sure. Um but for in the timeline perspective as you were advancing through this where do you feel like you you were maybe falling off from the physical standpoint or where where where would you feel like that was happening? Yeah. So for me um I would say you know everybody wants to blame co for everything right but that’s certainly a line of demarcation for us you know in our modern society right and I think back to like some of the world war I world war II and you see those those shows and they say preworld war post world war so for me precoid things you know career was going well had you know some sales trajectory going well you know I was fit you know kind of in the gym um kind of knew the right way nutrition things like that and then co happens you know and you know I’m homebound and I’m I’m I’m not, you know, working out. Um, you know, it’s easy to walk from the couch to the refrigerator. Um, have, you know, you’re getting food delivered to you, you know, fast food, things of that nature. And so, when I had an opportunity to do a a tech sales

11:06 Role where, uh, right around right after co, probably maybe 2021, 2022 to put a time on it, um, I ended up, you know, the the the tech company sold, right? and I didn’t have a job and so I had to go take an independent contract gig where I was constantly on the road and so I’m just eating whatever 16 hour days and I’m not working out at all. Yeah. Just letting it flow. Right. And compound that with the, you know, the personal relationship that fell through in my life. My father ends up passing away. So like, you know, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, everything was impacted, right? And so then one day you look in the mirror, Zach, and you don’t recognize who that person is staring back at you. Sure. That man in the mirror is a big thing. Um, we’re usually our harshest critics ourselves. Um, so do you think in those moments you were meeting your father’s standard? Oh, not at all. And and I can say that 100%. And and and that was what was so devastating is because you know my personal story is knowing the right thing to do, right? Having done the right correct correct right and doing

12:07 That for this call it a season of my life, right? and then kind of hitting the unexpected of life and then not upholding that standard when it matters most and that’s when adversity hits. And so I was really hard on myself when I had that man in the mirror moment because you know I’m looking at myself Zach like you know better than this right and so it’s like now what are you going to do to be intentional and deliberate about fixing that. And so for me that was kind of my come to moment where I said well you know you’re Travis Norwood’s son and you know better and now he’s gone and you don’t have that you know that you have to uphold it. That’s right. And so legacy became Yeah. The legacy with Yes. That legacy became so important. I feel that I feel and this is you know one of one of the reasons you and I u connect so deeply is I have the same but it’s my grandparents and it’s my grandmother specifically and my grandfather specifically who were those two people for me and um cuz I understand it differently um when you went through that darker season what was that like you know with that

13:10 With such clear standards that your father set such clear goals and being instilled to you as that legacy what was it like when you started realizing this isn’t who I’m supposed to be. It was challenging to be quite honest because you know I always prided myself on making good decisions, quality decisions and not not always the right decisions but for the most part I knew that the motivation behind the decision I was making you know it was something that you know was going to ultimately lead you know to the right you know outcome and you can’t control outcomes but you just control having to make the best decision. So my decision-m process was terrible to get involved in that situation that I was involved in. And then I didn’t know how to get my way out of it. And so that’s where I had to turn back to my faith, which that was the standard, right, that my father, you know, gave me was faith. How long did it take you to realize that you were actually in that moment, right? A lot of times when we get inside, you know, whether you want to call it that tunnel to where, you know, you’re inside the storm and you’re just keep falling down. Sometimes we don’t realize we’re in the storm. Did you did you realize it in the beginning or did you and let it fester

14:11 Or was it something that you you said, “Oh I’m here.” You know what’s really interesting about a Zag is after I made the decision, I almost knew immediately, but I was sitting with you’ve made it now. You have to make it work. And so one of the biggest takeaways that I learned from making that decision was you can’t be afraid to evolve and adapt and adjust. Sure. In that moment in time when you were there though, like there’s some self-reflection that was obviously happening. what what all was it costing you from you know your health um from your your legacy from your relationships all these things what was it costing you yeah it was costing me quite frankly costing me everything there was a there was a time you know financially you know physically emotionally mentally all those things were on a negative trajectory now did I necessarily realize it at the time no we usually don’t obviously right but in retrospect um yeah it was it was a slow deterioration of all the things all of my values you know everything that you know that that desire and that purpose that I knew I had for my life and it lasted I would say it was probably about you know when I was involved you know in that dark period of my my life it was probably

15:12 About a 2-year window and then it all culminated with me I’m in a like literally in the hospital you know my blood sugar is just off the scales and they’re like looking at me like why are you walking around like what’s going like any day like my probably organ failure is coming right and so I’m in the hospital you know getting you know some fluids and some things you know trying to they’re trying to figure out you know what exactly is going on and then finally at that moment I’m like some things have to change, right? Yeah. And and obviously I resonate that too. I’m very open about myself and I I was in the hospital myself, but mine was for alcohol, right? And whether it’s um you know the hell when where whatever direction it brings you to to get to that point, it does something to you. And it’s um when you sit there and you have to have that self-reflection of where where you’re at and what you’ve helped yourself become, especially when you know Yes. the values and what is right or wrong and you know it with your heart because it was instilled into you and I I I so deeply um understand that and uh what it can do to you and Zach I’ll say

16:16 It makes it that much more debilitating because you’re sitting in it knowing you shouldn’t be there knowing what you have to do to get out and trying to find the strength to say like what’s the next step 100% and you got to find that domino and yours was fate correct your domino was faith. Uh can you talk me through that and how that looked for you? Sure. So faith was certainly the catalyst and you know I’m a strong believer that you know faith is the substance of things hoped for and the things not seen. So you may not always see it immediately but you have to have the faith to do it. And that is kind of the key right to seeing God’s presence in your life. Because if you don’t believe that he is and you don’t believe that he’s a rewarder of those that diligently seek him then you can’t possibly have faith. Yeah. I was about to say then what was the point of believing if you don’t correct so if you start with that as your basis then now you understand there’s nothing you have to do to earn you don’t have to actually quote unquote take the step that we’re talking about it just start the step so to speak is faith having

17:16 Faith and then through faith things will be revealed to you and so that’s what my I think the state would be reestablishing correct it’s not that you never stop believing in God correct you just didn’t want to look and see you anymore you hid yourself from his Absolutely. And that’s the way I felt is I hid myself from his vision where I didn’t have to be judged or felt like I was judged. But like any true parent, I never look at my children and judge. Correct. I’m they’re my children. I will love them throughout through everything. That sounds very much what you just had to do is just reestablish that connection. Absolutely. And I think that’s why it’s so impactful. You know, I did get to have my father in my life. And what I can say now that I realize about that is understanding now that he’s gone, right? understanding that what he did to set the framework, it kind of helps me even that much more with my faith in God because I know to your point if my dad loved me to this degree to discipline me and set the standard then that’s the same approach that God’s trying to do for us all as well. I agree. Um with that there’s a certain control mechanism what you kind of said like

18:16 Putting your faith what was it like you know releasing some of that control and you know giving it back to the faith giving it back to God. Yeah it it was everything. So for me um it’s almost one of those moments where he like to your point is like hey I’ve been waiting for you know you know we you know that there’s a you know famous you know footprints in the sand right picture and we you know he’s carry through his moments right so he never left me and so he was just waiting for me to acknowledge him right and so once I acknowledged him really everything opened up for me it came to me you know and so the things that I said this is where I’m at um you know I’m here because of decisions that I’ve made but I’m still giving it to you, right? And sometimes that that may seem selfish, right? But that’s that’s who God is for us. Even when we go mess it up, if we’ll just give it back to him, he’ll correct it and he’ll restore it. And so almost immediately when I had that conversation with God, he said, “I’m going to bring you to a season of restoration.” And this is the key, Zach. He said, “It’s not going to be what you thought it was before. It’s going to be even better than that.” Sure.

19:16 And that brings me right to the segment of, you know, shortly after all this started happening, you actually connected with me, right? Absolutely. You found me on LinkedIn. Kind of how tell me how that came to fruition. For sure. So, what ended up happening was um you know, like I told you that moment I was in the hospital and all those things. So, you know, you can all only imagine when you’re not, you know, having a healthy lifestyle, they want to put you on blood pressure medication. They want all this kind of stuff, you know, that that you need. Oh, yeah. That’s a good cholesterol. Doctors are good at that, man. They’re good at prescriptions. Absolutely. So, your cholesterol levels off the charts. So I said I’m not going to be, you know, going into, you know, turning 40 and having, you know, to have a regimen of medications, right? So, and to your point, right, you know, I knew what I needed to do, right, to do it, right? So, what I started doing was just going for walks and I started cooking at home instead of eating out and things of that nature. So, I just, you know, I stopped the bad behavior first. And then I started, you know, you know, researching. I won’t say researching, but just I changed the habits of my daily what I was reading, what I was watching. and I looked at things that I

20:16 Knew would kind of steer me towards where I was headed. And so I use LinkedIn a lot because obviously I’m in sales, so it’s a professional platform. And um I don’t think it was a coincidence. I think I was led to see your post because we weren’t connected on No, we were not. Right. So thank you for your brilliant marketing and things that you do because you came across my feed and so I read, you know, one of your uh posts and and I was like that resonates with me, right? And I do really believe that the aesthetics matter. And so you had pictures of yourself, you had visibility, and I said, “This is a person that obviously doesn’t just talk the talk, but walks the walk.” And then obviously your military background that kind of connected cuz I’m because I have a friend right now that’s in the military, you know, that high school buddy that’s in the Air Force. And so so I can kind of connect with other people that are veterans, you know, and people that are Sure. plus master sergeant, right? Absolutely. Yeah. So so everything about you kind of spoke to, right, you know, something I was familiar with. And so, um, one of the things I will say is that I I I sent you a LinkedIn direct message and you responded immediately. Oh, I’m I’m good at that. Yeah. And so, that was People People mistake how quick I am.

21:16 No, no, that’s great cuz and that’s rare, believe it or not, even if you know, obviously you’re you’re marketing and looking for clients, but sometimes people take that for granted when people reach out. And so, just um, which I wouldn’t expect anything different, right, from someone of your standard, but when you reached out and and we had that call, it just I knew that there was a sense inside. I said, “I need to work with this person.” And I knew that for me, Zach, I needed some accountability because I couldn’t trust myself, right, to say if I just take this on because I’d already proven to myself, hey, you’ve made a bad decision. It’s got you there. So, if I’m giving it to God, he’s going to put the right people in situations in my life for me to get the direction that I needed. And that’s who you were for me. Sure. And, you know, just for people get an understanding of where you are cuz they’re obviously they can’t see where you were right now. Sure. kind of like where were you at when we kind of started like you know energy-wise you know weight wise all this where were you kind of at like you were getting your mind straight for sure where were you for sure yeah so um you know I don’t mind you know sharing I was I was plus 300 lb right um was was having trouble sleeping through the night obviously and

22:17 I didn’t go to the doctor for it but I believe I probably had sleep apnnea you know I could just tell I was I would wake up and you know kind of doing some research on my own I was like why am I headach I don’t get headaches I was having these headaches and it was pounding right here and I believe that I wasn’t probably breathing breathing right at night. I didn’t know that, but I I was going to actually have a sleep study done soon and um you know, my blood pressure was off the RTOR scale. Cholesterol was high and I didn’t have energy. Um another reason why I thought I had sleep apnnea is cuz I would I never get tired during the day. So I found myself at 2 or 3:00 like needing to go to sleep just like you know I was scared to drive cuz you know I’m in field cells because I would fall asleep. That never happened to me, right? So I knew all this was tied to my health and so you know my back was was lower back was killing me and so if I tried to you know go on extended walks you know somewhere just in a grocery store or something like I would have to lean on the cart so it it was bad. It was really bad. It was bad. Yeah. Um you probably don’t remember this or maybe you do. Um I remember the first time I spoke to you um not on the phone. Um, I remember that conversation, but then I remember when

23:17 We had the Zoom call and I remember thinking and at the end of the call, I don’t remember if you remember. I was like I I told you something to the degree like, man, this is one of the most enjoyable conversations I’ve ever had on here. I was like, you’re one of the most articulate people I’ve ever met in my life. Um, and you probably thought, oh man, he’s just being a salesman. Or maybe you didn’t. I don’t know. Um, but you just as much as you say you reson I resonate with you, it gets discounted. like when I work with people how much they resonate with me and from the start and I’ll go into it more later but from the start I knew there was something there like it was just uncanny almost like you talk about how God can talk to you the same way. Um talking about like you know the support system that once you came into working with me like the you know the what kind of how did that support system really help you you know get along? Yeah. So, so for me, um, your platform, the app that you have is phenomenal, and I know that it’s probably pretty common place now with, you know, we’re in the modern technological age, right, for people to have apps and develop things, but sometimes it it doesn’t work well.

24:18 Um, it was simple. It was it it it was everything I needed from workouts, the nutrition component, um, and the documentation of logging things. That is, I think, one of the most impactful things for me personally that I took away from it because now it made it real as far as the accountability factor to be able to say, okay, you need to get a certain amount of protein, you know, keep your carbs at bay here. And I was able to actually log and track those things for me to build a routine to now get that momentum. And so that for me was what that framework that you kind of set out when we had that conversation and you said, “Hey, you can get your blood work done and we can tie out to what you have specifically your needs.” That meant everything because now you’re not guessing on like if I do this, you know, will I see results? It’s like no, here’s the actual system framework. And to just kind of compound that a little bit more like as a salesperson, what kind of differentiates as we kind of joke and and I, you know, I respect all salesman. So I don’t mean to take shots of used car salesman, but the difference between, you know, a used car salesman and the sales that I believe for me is

25:18 Impactful is there’s a system and a framework that we utilize that makes it repeatable and you can replicate it. And so that’s why a lot of times these Fortune 500 companies, right, they can take, you know, maybe a novice person that’s right out of college and make them an intern because the system works. Now, if you’re going to be if you’re going to excel, then that’s where your personal, you know, um, approach comes. But that system that you that you gave me worked and I could see it on the front end because you know to your point that we talked about earlier I knew earlier that hey this is what you need to do. I just wasn’t doing it. So when I saw like oh yeah Zach’s got everything I need from a system perspective for me to succeed that made all the difference. Yeah. And it works for a lot of people for all of this. Your your standard was where it was at. Um, how would you kind of like classify yourself as far as like the standards that were set with your life with your dad and where like right before we started, where do you think your standards were at in comparison to where you had had them in your life beforehand? Yeah. The good thing about before we had our conversation, you

26:18 Know, I, you know, I’d had, you know, my conversation with God about faith and so my mentality was where it needed to be. It’s just my habits weren’t right. And so those were things that I needed to change. And so I was still, you know, and I and and obviously, you know, from our personal, you know, conversations and and as we’ve done this process, you know, I wasn’t good logging at first, right? Well, you were terrible. You were one of the worst people ever. Absolutely. No, I I agree. And then I, you know, I was telling you like I had to log everything for work. So like this is another But when I started learning how to prioritize myself, that’s one of the things you helped me, you know, really accomplish is, you know, first and foremost, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in your career as an executive. If you haven’t prioritized yourself and your health, what does the rest of it matter? Because you’re not going to be able to perform the way you No, you will not not be. And so, and what we just, you know, what we disassociate with like that’s especially as men, we’re so bad at it. Women are so much better than others. We disassociate like we think things are either physically, mental, or emotionally. As men, that’s kind of how we classify. Correct.

27:18 They’re all intertwined, man. Right. There’s there is zero doubt like how you look in the mirror and feel yourself just like when you were looking at the man in the mirror like you said and you didn’t like that reflection that had a mental trigger, an emotional trigger and a physical trigger all three. Correct. You know when when this started changing and that chaos and that that dislike and that emotional all that that’s up what did that start doing to you from an emotional level when you had all this chaos start coming into structure again? I tell you what, Zach, I um you know, once I kind of got more into a rhythm and built some momentum, um the confidence in myself to give myself more grace just shot through the roof. And I remember one of our first conversations you and I had is you said, “Look, you’ve been through a lot.” And you you basically it was almost a paternal like approach like it’s okay. Like you’re doing what you need to do where you recognize it. you’re making the first step and you’re and you’re and you’re pushing through to try to, you know, to change things. I remember that stood out to me so so much and that gave me confidence in and of itself. And then

28:19 Once I started really trusting the process that you were implementing for me, um my confidence shot through the roof. And so I started to really forgive myself for being where I was at. And then it empowered me to be able to say, “Okay, you can still accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted to accomplish. And if there’s something that I was not able to maybe do or a result that I wasn’t seeing as soon, I was able to be more patient with myself. Yeah. So, it reset all of the way that it reset the approach that I had probably even prior to um that that bad decision and that dark moment, my father passing away. There was a a sense of maybe despair that I was like, “Wow, you know, I know life happens, but wow, life happens, right?” And then it’s like, you know, well, as disappointed as I was for not handling adversity like I knew I could have, well, it’s never too late to do that. It’s never too late till it’s too late, right? But we had made that you gave me the grace to be able to have that momentum and my confidence came and I was empowered and it was like, yeah, you know, you can still be that guy and even that much more.

29:20 Yeah. and all that that help. I feel like you know all this transformation from not just a physical thing because once you do that start that physical transformation it leads into like we talked to the competence which leads into the emotional which leads in the middle all that um it helped you you know come to the point to where you were landing a major role at a major company. Um tell me how like how that rebuild helped show up for you in that professional manner. Absolutely. you when you said that about how the physical leads to the mental, right? There’s a verse in the Bible, it’s in first Timothy, it talks about bodily exercise profitth little and it doesn’t mean that exercise isn’t important. What I would like people to understand about that verse is bodily exercise is so important to you and building momentum for everything else in your life that it’s that much more important for you to make sure the spiritual is taken care of. But physical well-being is a gateway to spiritual well-being. Sure. I 100% agree. Absolutely. And so obviously we know that, you know, our physical bodies will

30:20 Perish. We’re all, you know, we have a date where, you know, we’ll leave this world. But it’s that much more important to take care of the physical because that is the temple, right? That is the body’s the temple. And so for me, being able to get my physical health together helped me have because I’m a very optimistic person in general. You don’t say. And so so I have a you know so the positive aptitude of you know I’m ready to run through a brick wall you know whenever I know that I’m you know to accomplish a goal with something I want to do and so breaking into medical sales was something I’d always really wanted to do you know my academic background I have a degree in biology and I saw someone who was traveling and and and I love to travel that’s the other thing right so he was traveling for work company car the whole deal right and so um I wouldn’t have been prepared for that Zach prior to meeting you and prior to like establishing the system and this framework, I wouldn’t have been prepared for it. And so being able to go through the interview processes, which anyone who’s going through any sorts of just sales in general, those processes are long. They’re tedious. Um, you know,

31:20 When you’re dealing with medical sales, you’re having to learn disease states and efficacy and safety profiles. So there’s a lot of, you know, science to it as well as the business part of it. And so that right there, you have to have the stamina just to try to break into the industry, not much less be in the industry. And so that fueled right around the time I met you. Um I had met someone else who said, “Hey, look, let’s refine your professional summary and resume and let’s really help you break into the industry.” And so I was so happy that that paralleled the same time because as I built built momentum with you, I was building momentum. And then right around the same time that when I came out to see you um around December cuz we I think we connected was it around October? I think we may have been uh September. It was in September. September is right. And so I ended up getting the offer for the role in December right before I came out to visit with you. Yeah. Um and before we go to the next thing like you know I want people to understand where you are now. So you you got that job and like you know we talked about where you were um at the state of when you started. Where are you at now? Um that’s a loaded question because you

32:21 Know there’s a song I think I’m on top of the world right. Yeah. And it’s not because of any result or outcome that I have, but it’s really the momentum and the faith that I know that I I really believe that the presence of God is in my life. And there are so many nuance things that I see every day that’s reminding me that I’m not where I am of my own valition. And so, um, I think I’m, you know, right around 92 lbs down from where I started. Um, I had an opportunity in about 8 months and Yeah. And that’s the thing, the momentum of it is is crazy. Like, you know, and it and it’s not because of some miracle drug, right? It’s because of a system and a process that we were talking about earlier. And um I’m in in a career that’s not just, you know, cuz sometimes you break into a medical sales role and it’s entry- level role. I was able to with I do have sales experience. I don’t have medical sales experience. And so I was be able to break into a specialty role and I’m working um in the government accounts. So, I get to, you know, see my dad every day in the faces

33:21 Of the patients that are in the VA hospitals and um and I’m just, you know, feeling great, you know, emotionally, physically, mentally, everything is I I don’t have a RTOR scale for it cuz it’s definitely all that’s great. Um, which takes me to like you’re obviously one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met in my life to be 100% honest. there’s not much that comes out of your mouth that you’re you’re not very meaningful about which is is very reminds me actually of my grandmother a lot. Um and um with that said you have a lot of passions and one of your passions is collegiate basketball and officiating. Um so tell like kind of describe what was one of the biggest things that when we started too was another reason that you wanted to do it cuz what was your passion when you were coming up um and where you lost it and then where it is now. Uh so got to go back to Travis Norwood my father. So, uh, Master Sergeant Norwood, we’ll call him, um, he officiated. So, that was something he did. And so, I would always go to the gym with him and I would love doing it. So, I got started when I was about 15 or

34:22 16 years old doing that at the Boys and Girls Club there in Texas where I grew up. And so, when I went to college, I did inter murals and then I got into high school. And then I was at 24 years old, you know, refereeing college basketball at a pretty high level. And so, that was always a goal and aspiration was to go as far as I could with collegiate basketball or, you know, I have a couple friends that work in the NBA. Um, so if that would have been on my radar, hey, great. And I had that momentum going. So that’s one of those things that I said I was disappointed about um, right prior to CO, I stopped officiating. And so when I was coming back, um, into officiating after CO, obviously wasn’t in shape, wasn’t fit, you know, um, and, you know, could barely walk in the grocery store, much less running down the basketball court, right? And so I tried to kind of get back into officiating, get started doing high school basketball again. But I just couldn’t get up and down the court the same way. Just I was just too heavy. Um, you know, I just just just wasn’t, you know, wasn’t healthy really. It wasn’t even about being fitness. I just wasn’t healthy. And so that was something I said, “Okay, if if you’re going to try to give this a go again and try to get back into college basketball, you’re going to have to change some things.” And so that was one of my main goals um

35:22 More so than even trying to get back in college officiating when I talked with you was to get was to be healthy, but to also try to chase that dream again. And so since then, um obviously, you know, with the weight loss I had, uh my officiating has improved uh as far as my fitness level getting up and down the floor. And it improved to a level to where I actually just was had an opportunity to work a championship game for one of the junior college conferences that I’m in uh just last week actually and I hadn’t seen my supervisor that assigns those games since uh co and he says yeah you’re looking like the guy that I first hired years ago and so I’m looking to go to some camps this year um you know still you know I know we talked about we’re going to kind of ramp up here in March had some training things with the new job that has started that is have haven’t allowed me to really um you know do the two a days that I like to kind of do. I kind of do the, you know, workout, you know, you know, but do the workouts in the morning and kind of do some cardio in the evening. Um, so we’re going to ramp that up and really get myself to where we want to be premium for these camps. Um, but but I have all the momentum, you know, the the mental is there for the spiritual is ready for

36:22 It. And so we’re going to put these final final touches, you know, on really getting that athletic look that they’re looking for. Um, but but uh the future is bright, I really believe, for my officer. I do too. Um, and a lot of times I’ll hear people, and this is going a little outside of what we were just talking about, but I want people to kind of have an understanding. A lot of times, oh, you’re not going to be there in person. You know, there’s not they they don’t understand how there will be a relationship and how like, and I try to explain to them, it’s actually probably going to be a deeper relationship than you you would ever expect. Um, obviously you came out and stayed uh, you know, at uh, one of the places I own out here as well. But when you found out that news about the the Junior College Championships, I’m not sure I was the first person you called. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but who was I, you know, how quickly did you call me to let me know that that happened? You absolutely were the first person. Literally was in the car having the conversation Saturday morning. I remember I remember answering, right? Yeah. Having the conversation with the supervisor. So before he actually saw me at the championships, um he gave me a

37:23 Call letting me know that I’d be working the tournament and he said, “Hey, there was a coach that mentioned that you had lost a lot of weight.” And he hadn’t seen me, right? And uh the the my supervisor hadn’t seen me. And so he said, “You know, how much weight have you lost?” Cuz he he didn’t know, right? Yeah. And I said, I said, “Well, you know, lost maybe 60, 70, who’s counting, right?” Kind of, you know, he said, “No, no, no.” And he was being so sincere and he said, “No, that I love that for you.” He said it’s never really ever been about, you know, your performance on the court. You know, he said if you ever want to, you know, do this thing at a high level, you know, there’s a certain standard, which there’s that word again, standard, right, that you have to have. And so I said, I know. And I said, I appreciate your confidence in me. And so as soon as we got off the phone, I said, I couldn’t call you. I said, Siri, call Zach, right? And so, um, so I called you because this thing is real. The the the relationship piece that you and I have, um, I would have never had to have seen you in person. I was thankful that to see you in person, but I also say that anything in life from a relationship pers perspective, it’s in relation to, right? That’s in the word. So, in relation to what do you want to get from Zach if you’re working with him, you

38:24 Have to, you know, sew into him because he’s certainly going to sew into you. So, you’ve sewed into me. And so, you were one of the people that I want to share that with because you were one of those catalysts that God brought into my life to get me going to something once again that was purposeful for me. Um, and so you’ve been there along with me the whole way. And you know, if if I for for whatever reason don’t log in two or three days, you’re call, hey, is everything okay? If there’s a change in schedule, let me know how I can be flexible. Do you need to hop on a Zoom with you? Do you you’ve always made yourself available to me? And um if I’ve ever had to text you or send something in the chat um in your app, I mean, immediately you’re instantaneously, you know, and you’re two hours behind me cuz I’m, you know, I’m central time. You’re, you know, West Coast Pacific. So, you’re always available and and I that I’ve really appreciated that cuz more so than just a client relationship that I have with you. Um I I do believe it’s a true friendship and I’ve always appreciated it. So, um let’s take it to right here right now then. Um we’ve talked about your father throughout and standards like I very

39:24 Much consider myself a man of standards and principles and I definitely live my life about that now. Um, and it’s it’s gratifying to do that cuz you don’t have to like think about if I’m going to do something this way or this way or you know how am I going to approach that already know it. I know my standard and I know my principles and I won’t do I won’t nobody’s going to change those for me. Your father did the same things to you just as my grandparents did for me. Your father could see you now. How would he think you compared to where you were or where he think where would he let’s not even do a comparison. when your father looked at you now, how would he think that you’re living up to his standards? What’s what’s really, you know, I guess the um silver lining of when my father passed is he got sick, all of a sudden he was healthy and then all of a sudden something happened, but I had some time, you know, I flew back and forth to see him. And so we had some time to have those final conversations, right? And so what stood out to me was how well he knew me because one of the things I always thought was like man my dad doesn’t really understand you know kind of you know he grew up you know in

40:25 Mississippi um you know my my grandfather was a sharecropper so he was a farm boy you know went to the military and you know I was more of you know went to college and went that path right corporate sales things of that nature so I was like does he really understand and so the one of the final conversations we had he said I’m proud of you he said I want you to, you know, you know, find a quality, you know, you know, job that’s going to help, you know, your legacy, right? Take care of you long term. He said, you know, get back in shape, get back into fish shape. I know you love it. And he said, and you know, you know, find you always walk with God, right? Keep your, you know, and so I think even when I think I was at my worst and and I was having those because I that was one of the things that I was disappointed about was I I wasn’t showing up well enough for my father. I wish I could have done more for him in those kind of last days, right? But he built me up in a way that let me know that he was going to love me even if I earned it or not. And so I do think the standards that he set come out of love first and foremost and not out

41:28 Of some sort of you have to have a duty, right? And that’s where I think even from a military perspective, we talk about we do it for duty, but it’s also love of country, right? 100%. So when you love something, it’s not really a duty. you have a responsibility to make sure you follow through what you love. And so if I look at where my dad would see me now, he’d be like, “Yeah, that’s that’s my son. Yeah, that’s what I expected.” Yeah. You know, and so I think, you know, he was already proud of me before. But I think he was he was loving me through to where he knew I was going to be and I’m grateful for that. Yeah. And you always had to put that adversity in your children’s life or make them understand cuz if you don’t and everything’s easy. Mhm. It’s funny how when you make everything easy for people, never works out in their favor. Uh speaking about being easy for people, what you know there’s a guy out here that was kind of having a lot of the similar struggles you were and you know where they might be at life. What would you kind of tell them like hey maybe you know talk with Zach or talk with someone like him to where to help you get going? First thing I I would I would say is be

42:28 Be honest with yourself you know um and what I mean by that is be honest if if I say hey go have a conversation with Zach. If you’re not gonna be honest about where you are, and I know that’s tough for people sometimes because they feel like they’re being vulnerable. We always hide ourselves. We talked about hiding ourselves from God, which we know is unconditional love. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so what I would say, find a man. And if if since you specifically said a man, I’m going to speak to a man’s journey. And obviously, you know, I’m a man in the journey I’ve had, but find a man you can be vulnerable with. And Zach, you are a person a man can be vulnerable with, you know, and so what I would say is be honest, be vulnerable, and be open to the feedback that Zach’s going to give, and be prepared to be challenged, but also be prepared to be supported within that challenge. Yeah. Um All right, let’s go into one of my favorite segment. It’s uh called rapid fire. Okay. Uh so there’s like no thinking, no explanations. First things that come to

43:28 Your mind. Um, so you know, as somebody who lives in Alabama now, I know you’re a Texas boy. Uh, but you live in Alabama right now, Auburn or Alabama. Oh, wow. Are you going to do me like that? Have to, man. You know, I’m there. I’m from Alabama. I got to. So, I’m in sales. You know, like the movie Blue Chip. When I’m in a certain area of Alabama, it’s Alabama. It’s Auburn. I’m Ellis. You know, um, you know, since I’ve been there, Alabama was kind of the standard. They won a bunch of championships while I lived there. So, I’ll say Alabama. Good. You can stay. You can stay here now. All right. And then as a college officiating guy, I’m big into college and so this won’t air until this is probably over. What who’s going to win the championship this year? Oh, that’s tough. Um Oh, we maybe coming into this interview, I would have said Duke because they’ve only had a couple losses this year. Um but they just got pushed by the 16 seed. Yeah. So I I guess I got a little bit of to hedge a little bit. But um Arizona looked really good this year. So I would maybe say between Arizona and Duke. You get to watch him here in a minute.

44:28 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, your father, your father walks into the room right now. What’s the first thing he checks? Oh, wow. Um, that’s a good one. What’s the first thing he checks? Uh, just in any room? No. With you or a room or what? He walks in. He walks in the room right now. What’s the first thing he checks? Checking you, checking the room. What’s he doing? Yeah, I would I would probably if I’m in the room, he’s he’s probably checking to see what I’ve got on. I would probably say that. Hold those standards. Yeah, maybe one of those stand to make sure that my uniform is fit. I would say that. What was harder to admit that you were in a dark place or do you needed help getting out? Um, needing help getting out. Yeah, it’s hard, man. Faith or discipline? Which one came first in the rebound? Faith. Yeah, every time. What’s the biggest lie men tell themselves when it comes to telling themselves that something’s off? Biggest lie that they tell themselves. Um, that procrastination factor. I’ll start tomorrow. Yeah, that’s a Oh, yeah. I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ll work out tomorrow. I I’ll get that. I’ll eat I’ll eat better tomorrow once everything kind of lines

45:28 Up. It’s Friday, so I’m going to go grocery shopping and then Monday we’ll start. Yeah, we always make those little things with oursel, hey, if I get this order and this orders, that’s when I’ll do that. And we do that as people, man. We We’re good at that. And then Yeah. Uh you sell medical devices uh into operating rooms. Does your own doctor know more about your health or less than you do now? Does my own I would say my own doctor probably knows less because when I went to go see him um he was like man what have you been doing? Yeah. Like he was just raving about like great male this that and the third you know and cuz I had some blood work done just to kind of see you know where my cholesterol levels and stuff were and and everything he was like like they give you the you know the in range not in r like everything was like perfectly in range like everything was phenomenal. So yeah. Um, what is the first thing that changed when your body started working right again? Oh, um, energy. Yeah, that’s Yeah, energy. Sleeping through the night very well. I don’t know if you remember what did I do you remember what my number one goal is for every guy? Higher energy. Higher energy because it’s a subset of

46:28 All the nutrition, fitness, sleep, all the subsets always lead to the energy levels. And when I say higher, like I’m a guy that’s that’s drank coffee before. I’m a guy that’s had, you know, not every day, you know, on the energy drinks, but definitely really didn’t eat any of that stuff. That’s great at all. Worst call you ever made on the basketball? Oh, come on. Why you gonna do me like that? Um gosh. Uh I’ll tell you what what coaches and fans think. Every call, right? Um parents especially. Yeah. I I will say that it’s it’s funny because and I don’t know how maybe the general perception is, but sometimes they think like when you blow your whistle that could potentially be your worst call. Often times I think when you don’t blow your whistle that can be the worst call. And so because sometimes, you know, a lot of people ball watch when casual fans going to watch the ball, but there’s a lot of So I challenge anybody that’s watching March Madness, right? To don’t watch the basketball, like watch what’s happen, the action off ball. That’s really where your game is at. It’s very similar like

47:28 In football, right? You watch the running back or the quarterback, but if you’re looking at the line of scrimmage, there’s so much going on. You can see the hole before it opens, right? And so off ball, they’re setting screens. And when that alleyoop dunk comes, that guy is not wide open for alley dunk for no reason. and there’s normally a back screen or something that’s happened. So sometimes, you know, like I would say missing a screen that the the offensive player is illegal and it opens up for like a wide open shot like that that’s probably been one of the I would say those are tough sometimes. You got Okay. Um so if a guy’s listening right now in his own dark chap in his own dark chapter, sorry. Um what is the one thing he needs to hear? Um make it short. Let’s keep it concise. One thing. Yeah, I would say have a conversation with God first. Yeah. And you know, give it to him and let him give you direction because Zach, I didn’t have to do anything. It all came to me once I trusted him. Mhm. Yeah. All right. The last question. The man you’re becoming, is he closer to your the uh to the man that your father raised to be or someone that your father

48:29 Has never seen before? Yeah, I think it’s closer to the man that he raised me to be. Yeah. This this this isn’t foreign where I’m at now. It’s it’s it what was new about it was the adversity and then coming through I’d never really experienced something you know this deeply adverse in my life and so being on the other side of that um it’s there’s definitely a newness of of what I’ve stepped into um but this is this is the man that I truly believe when I felt like my dad was being a little bit too militant a little bit too strict doesn’t take all of that right okay lighten up but this is where he was he was preparing me for and and so it it feels good what what’s so great about my job and officiating the things that I’m doing. There are things that I enjoy to do and so it’s it’s not toilsome. Yeah. And so I’m having fun doing what I’m doing. I’m enjoying doing what I’m doing. I find fulfillment and satisfaction what I’m doing. And I haven’t even reached the ultimate goal of what I’m trying to accomplish yet. And I’m I’m content right where I am. And I do know that it’s just a day at a time. And this is who when I had the

49:31 Last conversation with my dad, he said, “I love you. This is the the version of me that he was loving. That’s great. And um just want to end with this for me to you. You talk about things that uh doing what you love to do. And one of the reasons I answer so fast and I’m always there like that is cuz I genuinely love what I do. Like I love having impact on other people’s lives and it gives me a sense of purpose that I don’t think I could have ever wished for. Um, but you know what you might not know, what you might not understand is just everything that I help give to you guys, you give back to me tenfold and the person that makes me want to be better every day and the example I want to be for my own children. You guys get I get to see inspiration from you guys and your accomplishments every day. So, I wanted to thank you for that and thank you for having me coming on the show today. Appreciate you. Thank you so much, Zach. Randall, again, thank you for being here. Thank you for being that open. And here is what I want you to take from the conversation. Randall Norwood grew up in a military household.

50:32 His father, Master Sergeant Norwood, set a standard for him to become old enough to understand what it meant. Discipline, integrity, consistency, and accountability. And Randall carried that standard through a career that most people could not even map. recreation therapy, industrial sales, HR technology, and now a career in medical devices. From the outside, the system was always working. But there was a season where it was not. And that what’s makes Randle story different. He he he’s not the same as everybody. He did not go to find a new diet. He did not go to sign up for a challenge. His first step was finally getting right with God. And when the spiritual foundation was back in place, the right people started showing up. He found me on LinkedIn and we connected. From there he was able to become a client and he was able to get pointed in the right direction when it came to meals, meal planning, nutrition, fitness. And one by one, the structure came back. Not because he was chasing it, because he was aligned and he was

51:32 Ready to receive it. And then he executed with the same discipline that his father had instilled into him from day one. The results are real. He dropped the weight. He sleeps better. His endurance on the basketball courts has changed. and his confidence is different in every aspect of his life. He will tell you that the transformation played a direct role in his landing his career in medical devices. And now he’s pursuing the goal of being a collegiate level basketball official, which requires the kind of precision, conditioning, and mental toughness that most men talk about but will never actually build. The standard medical system did not get him there. They were playing sick care, 10 markers, normal range, tell them to take pills. this will be what we see on you next year. That is a system built to keep you from dying, not to help you become the man you’re supposed to be. Those are completely two different sports. Randall did not just change his habits. He changed his identity. And he will tell you that he started with faith. Your

52:32 Kids, they don’t want your money. They just want you to play with you. And you cannot do that running on a standard that was never built for a man who’s actually trying to perform. If this episode hit home, subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you listen. Share with the guy who needs to hear it. The guy who knows something is off but has not pulled the trigger yet. You know who he is. Send him this episode. You cannot lead others if you’re running on empty. But it starts with leading yourself. Empower your body. Invest in yourself. I’m Zach Armstrong. See you next week. Black hey.