Speaker 1: 0:13

I'd love for you to help people understand, like where did phil heath find that burn that lies inside of him?

Speaker 2: 0:19

man, I probably say early on in life where I realized competition is everything. Dude Like to compete at something. It's one thing to have a hobby, which is great, but then to see what you're truly made of by competing in it. So it didn't matter if it was playing, you know, hopscotch, it didn't matter if we're playing checkers, it didn't matter if we're playing Nintendo, it didn't matter. Everything became a competition.

Speaker 2: 0:44

And you know, I grew up as an only child in Seattle Washington and, fortunately for me, I was around a few other athletes. One in particular was Nate Burleson and his family. He had he was one of four boys, right, so their father played in the NFL and the CFL and I used to go over their house and I was like man, this guy's, you know, buff, and he's always bringing over these big guys and working out. And little did I realize at the time that he had played professional sports and I always wanted to compete with his sons, you know, with Kevin Burleson and with Nate, and we always like who's the fastest, who could shoot the best playing a hoop? And that was also back in the day where at elementary school, where we all attended, who's the fastest, who could do the shuttle run. Who could do the flex arm hang like those president's council of fitness tests. There was no participation ribbons given back then in the eighties and early nineties. It just wasn't the case and I always wanted to be the best.

Speaker 2: 1:46

I knew that I was short and I remember crying to the doctor, when they bring out the chart, of saying like this is how tall you're gonna be, and I was like, oh, there's no, there's no one that tall in the nba. And then here and then here comes spud web. You, you know, and I'm like, okay, so he can dunk. I'm like, what does it take to dunk? Well, you got to work hard. I was like, well, I'll do whatever it takes. So I was the kid that would see something, have a limiting belief and then see someone else do it. I was like I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. It's like that story of Roger Bannister right, you know, with the four minute mile, and once he did it everybody else could do it. Sometimes you just need to be able to get around somebody else that has done it and then you visualize it and then you go ahead and do it.

Speaker 2: 2:40

And I was never afraid of hard work. And you know, growing up again I mean it was just I was surrounded by other athletes and I always just thought, man, I want to be the best, I don't want to be lagging behind, I don't want to be second best. The second best sucks. And you know I was fortunate to have strong male role models. You know the coaches be okay with that Like they were all about winning too. Everything was competitive.

Speaker 2: 3:05

My middle school gym teacher still alive. His name is Ron Howard. This man played tight end for the Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys and had a Super Bowl ring. So imagine being 13 years old and your gym teacher's got a Super Bowl ring and you're looking at everybody's looking at the Super Bowl ring. You know what I'm looking at, ben? I'm looking at his fingers mangled like this Because he played in the 70s man, so his fingers are like this Well, he would talk and he'd be like so what you got to do, and I thought he was just trying to be like cool. No, man, his hands are messed up. So I realized everything comes with a price and that's okay because he's got the ring and I thought I want that, I want to be pro.

Speaker 2: 3:55

I want to be pro at something. In fact, when I was interviewed after I got my division one scholarship, my senior year to the University of Denver, I was interviewed by the Seattle Times and they said you know, you already have high hopes to do something in the hoops. What are your thoughts? And I said well, I don't know about the NBA, but I'm going to be pro at something. And that was a godsend, man, because I know that I was never afraid of hard work. I was always being competitive at every little thing, every little thing. Who could do the fastest, this, who could do the best? That that's just what mattered back then, and I still think it matters today. And that's what. When I was introduced to bodybuilding, it was the perfect sport for me because it was all about just the effort that I was willing to put forth. You could spot me, but that's not getting the job done. You can encourage me, but I still got to eat those meals. I still have to be willing to do the work when no one else is watching.

Speaker 1: 4:50

You could be more focused in your work so you don't live with regret. So I had to get in. Get that in there, Cause you've got me hype just thinking about how I could take intentional focus to a whole nother level. This is unbelievable.

Speaker 2: 5:02

No, thank you, and you're absolutely right, you know, I think it's. You know, a person that leaves with great intentions has no regrets, right? A famous person said that, and I think that we all need to continually do that. But then we have to be conscious, and unfortunately, because of you know, we have laptops, tvs, phones, tablets, noise pulling at us. We think about what a million thoughts a day, how many of those mean anything and how many of those are producing anything. What if we could just eliminate more noise? So then we can focus on just 10 things? Just 10 things, or maybe just one today, just one today.

Speaker 2: 5:46

I must, no matter what happens, come hell or high water, I'm not going to drink alcohol today, come hell or high water. When I drive home from work, I might take a little detour, slowly drive around the neighborhood and maybe park somewhere about a couple minutes away, text my wife and say I'll be right home, turn off the radio and take some deep breaths, recognizing my day. And even if I had the worst freaking day, I am not bringing that home to this woman, these kids, but just being that intentional right can make the world of difference Instead of just driving your ass home, getting out of the truck slamming the door and then you have what what I call the blank stare, which every man has done at some point in time in their life. Hey, honey, how you doing, I'm fine, fine, fine, hey, dad, fine, hey, hey, hey, that's what comes out of your mouth. You don't know it, but that's what's coming out of your mouth. Nothing of substance. You're just lights on. No one home. That's what you are, because you're not in your freaking body, because you haven't taken any time.

Speaker 2: 7:05

So it's not something that I just did my whole life. It's something I had to learn, and I fail at that sometimes, but I have to install and re-update. You know like, hey, phil, you just did a full press junket for breaking Olympia. Did you even manage to take your wife out to dinner? And the answer was no. This was just a few days ago and I was tired and this and that. And she'll understand, yeah, dude, but you know what, man? She deserves that extra gear. So what did I think about all night, phil? You got to have an extra gear just for her. She should not get the worst bit of you after you just gave everything to these photographers and journalists and fans. She deserves that extra gear. There's a reserve fuel box that you have for certain things in your life. She deserves that because she's willing to give, and my wife you'll see and you saw in the-.

Speaker 1: 8:07

I was just going to say I'm not going to give any of it away. You want to talk about sacrifice. You want to talk about I mean, it's making me emotional thinking about this. You want to talk about love. You want to talk about two people who supporting each other. There's so much to breaking olympia that, like people think that they think what they're gonna watch, you don't even know what you're gonna watch yeah, they're not and I'm so, so and I appreciate that, brother, yeah, sheree's everything you know and yeah, but those are those things.

Speaker 2: 8:44

It's like we have to carry ourselves with greater understanding of how we show up, how we show up for work versus how we show up at home.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Why was it so important for you to be vulnerable and transparent with adversity and challenge with the book?

Speaker 3: 9:02

I think when I was going through everything, I felt so alone. You know, through all my challenges, even through victory, you know it's what they say is lonely at the top sometimes. So I wanted you know, the readers and young athletes to know what it feels like and know that you're not alone If you're a winner. What does it feel like to be a winner? You know, because as athletes we really don't talk about certain things, we don't talk about our lows and our highs. We just kind just stayed even-keeled across the board and through the adversities I really felt alone. I felt like I was in a dark place. And then I realized I got a lot of love and fanfare from people saying, man, I was going through a tough time. And knowing that you were going through a tough time too, um, it made me want to be stronger because I saw how you was able to elevate yourself out of that darkness and still still remain who you are, your integrity and your drive and your fight to still go out there and conquer life. And it's like that gave me the inspiration. And it'll be some people been who never even ran track before. They said said, I saw you run, I saw the intensity, I saw the dedication, the hard work. It made me want to run. So I helped bring people into a whole sport that never even thought they could even do it and they gave it a try because they became more brave, they became more disciplined and they wanted to go out there and challenge life and make a life for themselves and control their destiny. So it made me feel really good and I was like, well, how do we package this? How do we be able to say, okay, let's connect that, let's take away that buffer of an athlete at a high elevation and someone who's watching? And how do you connect? And I think this book is going to be a way for them to connect with me and know exactly what my journey was and hopefully inspires others as well.

Speaker 3: 10:55

Sometimes you have athletes who are just amazing when it comes to physical, but they don't have the mental, and I think mental is something that lacks actually in sports. We praise athletes like Michael Jordan, tom Brady, lebron James, kobe, kalen Clark, angel Reese. We praise all these amazing athletes on not only their physical talent but their mental gift, that they have to be locked in, and I think that needs to change. Now the narrative is I don't want to shoot the same shots Kalen made you know what I mean. I don't want to throw a touchdown like Caleb made you know what I mean. I don't want to throw a touchdown like Tom Brady. I want to be locked in. I want to be locked in for all four quarters. I want to be locked in for those two halves. I want to go out there and have my mind like a steel trap and nothing can break me, because if your mind can do it, your body can do it. But if your mind's not ready, I don't care how hard you work your body and you are not going to get it done.

Speaker 3: 11:56

Why is this so important to you? Legacy and impact through others. Now you know, being an athlete, you have a small window in your whole life to be an athlete and when you retire, you want to look back on it and say I did a, I did something amazing, I did something that's going to make me feel good or make others feel good, or make your, your children, be proud to be. That's your father or your mother, you know, and I really feel that this is a message and a platform and a launching pad for athletes to understand Don't take every day for granted. Live your life as if you want to create a legacy, even if you're 14 or 15 years old, live your life like you want to create a legacy.

Speaker 3: 12:42

Now, you may not know everything right off the bat, but that's how you become a student of the game. You learn, but as long as your direction is to create a legacy, you're never going to go wrong. You're always going to weed out the stuff that doesn't matter and you're going to stay focused on the things that do matter. And one tip that you told me that I never even like defined is the fact that I always practice the unrequired things. If my teammates did 20 push-ups, I did 40 push-ups. If my teammates went out and did three reps of 100 meter sprints, I did six reps of 100 meter sprints, because I know that if I'm able to go out there and respectfully practice with some of the best in the world, I'm prepared for the rest of the world once I'm ready.

Speaker 3: 13:23

I think a lot of athletes have to realize that Do the things. That's unrequired, because when you step to the line you'll have way more confidence. You'll step to the line and say you know what? We're in these guys on the line doing pushups and sit-ups at 5 am. No, but I am, that's what I do. So you'll protect your integrity, your intent, your discipline and your fire because you know that you did extra to get to that top and you'll fight to keep that same mentality to get to that top and you'll fight to keep that same mentality.

Speaker 1: 13:49

How did that begin? You know so much success as an athlete. Where did those behaviors and discipline come from? Where did that burn come from? Not only going to Baylor, but also doing what many kids dream of doing, which is making it to the NFL. Take us back. Where did the burn to create discipline and work and face adversity come from for you?

Speaker 4: 14:10

Where did the burn to create discipline and work and face adversity come from for you? Yeah, you know. I think it goes all the way back to a young child growing up in New Orleans, and I've had two older brothers, so I'm the baby boy of the family and my mission was always to beat my brothers you know, one's four years older, one's six years older and so they were always rough on me in a good way. You know. They always push me and always attribute my athletic success to him, to them, because I'm having to beat them. So when I get against kids my age, it's easy, but they taught me at a young age and my father too. They taught me at a young age the words that I share with the world, like it all starts with you. You know. You have to put in the work and discipline in order to be what you want to do and be and do what you want to. You want to do and be and do what you want to and do what you want to do. I was fortunate to be able to have an example of the dream. So what I mean by that and I call it normalizing the dream. I do this with my kids. I do this with kids that I coach. I try to take them around it to show them that this dream of making it to the NFL or a college football player, whatever you want to do, it's very possible.

Speaker 4: 15:04

I got a chance to grow up around across the street from a guy named Gene Atkins. Geno Atkins is his son, but Gene was playing with the Saints at that time and we were really good friends. Me and Geno grew up together, really good friends, and the thing that I saw every single day I saw him putting in the work, jogging around the neighborhood, you know, going to his house, seeing him work out, and I was like, oh snaps, this guy is normal. I didn't understand this as a kid, but I'm Normal. People can still make extraordinary dreams happen if you just decide to dedicate, put in the work and be real with yourself. And so, as a four or five, six year old looking back, I understood that process and I've carried it with me my whole entire life.

Speaker 1: 15:49

What a lot of people don't realize and I didn't know this until I started working in the NFL is back when you were playing, there were rookie symposiums in the NFL is back when you were playing, there were rookie symposiums and in the rookie symposiums they would tell the players you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than playing in the NFL. Like that's how rare it is to take the talent that God gave you and to take it to the place that you took it to. What I want to focus on is not success that you had on the field. I'd rather talk about the adversity, which is how you really helped shape people to understand where that authentic power lies.

Speaker 1: 16:19

So you, essentially, you have this dream. You reach this pinnacle that people in a lifetime better chance of getting struck by lightning, and that's what you walk into, that's what you embrace. And then there was a period of time, trent, it ended for you. But when it ended for you, you had this bright, right, light and epiphany where you basically took out a phone, you start filming videos and rehab time started. Can you take us back to that dark time for you when you had to say goodbye to football? But it was really the opening of all these lives that you've touched and you continue to touch all over the world.

Speaker 4: 16:52

Yeah, it was the hardest time of my life up to a few years ago, and the reason it was hard I like to explain to people that you know, don't play sports. Just imagine losing your everything, the everything that you thought was the world since you were four years old. I was programmed since a kid to be an athlete. Of course, my parents made sure I take care of my grades and they made sure I knew that I was more than an athlete, but I didn't want to hear that. All I wanted to do was either play football, basketball, baseball and make it to the lead. So when that was over, I felt as if my life was over. It's like what am I supposed to do? I never worked a nine to five, I mean in college. If you try to do an internship, they're going to laugh at you. So what do I do with my life? And a lot of athletes get to that point. And I remember being in my parents' house in my room and I just got cut for like the eighth time from the Seattle Seahawks Actually the Washington Redskins at the time commanders now, and I remember looking around my room at all the trophies my roommate, one of my best friends that just committed suicide, tristan, my son. He was one year old at the time and I remember asking this question Like is this it, is it over for me? And I had no external evidence that something was more for my life. I want to be clear about that. But I had an internal alignment that says this is not the end, it's just the beginning. And so what I did was I decided to do what was in my control to do. I still use football as a motivator.

Speaker 4: 18:23

I say you know what it's rehab time? Rehab time wasn't to be a speaker, it wasn't to start an organization. Rehab time simply meant I got some weaknesses mind, body and soul. I'm going to put some strengths back into these weaknesses so I can come back stronger. So I started reading. When I didn't read books, I started getting into my words spiritually and I dedicated my, my, my physical health, hitting 24 hour fitness at 12 AM in the gym. And what happened during those times is I found myself. I gave myself a slimmer of light that said there's something more in your future. And what I decided to do? I started to document the journey and I would go live.

Speaker 4: 19:04

At this time it was blog TV or you stream it wasn't even like Facebook or anything like that and people will watch. And people would ask me questions like you know, how do I get over this and how did I get through this? And, by default, me not even knowing what I'm doing. I'm giving them answers. And so they said, can you come back tomorrow? And I was like I can't come back tomorrow, so how about I just start recording these YouTube videos? So I went to YouTube and that's how Rehab Time started.

Speaker 4: 19:27

It started for myself, not for anybody else, and that was the hardest thing to make myself believe that there was more to my life, when there seemed like there was no evidence of that. But I kept moving forward, step by step, inch by inch. I didn't even know, ben, what the destination was. I didn't know. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew where I could not afford to stay at and I just took the first step that I knew.

Speaker 4: 19:51

So the person listening to this that's struggling with being themselves, I would tell you what my grandmother told me and bless her soul. She said, trent, everybody in this world is taken. Your ultimate power is you. You're able to reach people that nobody can reach, just like you listening to this right now, you're able to reach people that me and Ben can't reach, but you'll never meet the people who are meant to be in your path if you don't walk the path that's meant for you.

Speaker 4: 20:18

Now I want you to think about this Are you living the life that's truly meant for you? Are you living the life that your circumstances gave you, that your past gave you, that people's opinions put on you? That's a hard life to live. You know, ben talks about me being authentic and coming from my heart. You know why? Because it's too hard trying to be someone else. It's too hard being stuck in my mind, so I decided just to be who I am, whether people like it or not, because that's where my peace is. So I encourage you to embrace your flaws, embrace the imperfect you, because it's still perfect for the purpose that's meant for your life.