#884 – Sean Pastuch | Do You Have Purpose?

Sevan Matossian (00:02):

Bam. We’re live. Amanda, w i I don’t think we’re going, going to, uh, be talking about the 49ers very often anymore. Very little 49ers talk here. You should see how much stuff I’m seeing out there that I’m trying to push down, push down, uh, clock. The 49ers head office needs to be held accountable for the very poor for clock. Says the 49ers head office needs to be held accountable for the very poor performance of the 49ers. Ooh, these are the first words coming out of this mouth this morning. I should have warmed this mouth up a little bit. Oh wow. Wait till you see this. Uh, Dr. Sean got a new backdrop.

(00:49):

Oh, we can’t hear you yet, Sean. I have all the authority. I haven’t pushed the button that lets you come in yet. I see you. Um, alright. I wanted to get off some, uh, contentious, uh, things before Sean came on so that it wouldn’t, uh, get on him. I spoke to, uh, Zach. Zack called me last night and we talked for 40, uh, 45, I don’t know, long time. Hour and 45, 15 minutes. I don’t know how we talk. Spoke for anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour and 45 minutes. Maybe I’ll share some of that with you guys. What’s up, dude?

Sean Pastuch (01:23):

How we doing? Savon?

Sevan Matossian (01:25):

Good. Dang. You look good. You got a haircut or something? Or?

Sean Pastuch (01:27):

I was in Arizona last week, so I have a little bit of, you know, that, that, that skin tone darkening,

Sevan Matossian (01:33):

That desert glow.

Sean Pastuch (01:34):

That’s it. The desert Glow.

Sevan Matossian (01:36):

Oh. Did you go to Sedona and try to have a U f O experience? I

Sean Pastuch (01:39):

Did. <laugh>. You know, it’s funny. I didn’t understand all that, like crystal stuff that’s going on in you, in, in Sedona. And that wasn’t Sedona. Uh, and then my wife looked it up in, it was too late for us to go to that place where the bushes are all swirled and whatnot. But we got some really good hikes in.

Sevan Matossian (01:54):

Um, I I, I really enjoyed your last, uh, visit on the show. Thank you.

Sean Pastuch (01:59):

I enjoyed it too.

Sevan Matossian (02:00):

Yeah, it was really, it was really cool. And is is as weird as this sound. I, it made me happy that my wife enjoyed it. Like my wife enjoyed the show.

Sean Pastuch (02:11):

Why does that sound weird?

Sevan Matossian (02:14):

I don’t know.

Sean Pastuch (02:15):

I think it’s cool.

Sevan Matossian (02:16):

It’s not weird that she enjoyed the show. It, it’s, it, it, um, I enjoyed the fact that she enjoyed the show. That’s the part that’s a little weird.

Sean Pastuch (02:22):

No, I, I I don’t, I don’t think that’s weird at all. I just, oh, this, this last week I gave a, a keynote talk in Phoenix. That’s why I was in Sedona. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it was the first time I like my goal for this year. I have, you know, my wife and I discussed her no longer chasing money and working as a teacher and to be able to raise our kids the way that we wanna raise our kids and to be able to travel the way we wanna travel. And so it was one of those shit, or get off the pot moments for me, where we talked about, you’re gonna travel with me when I go give talks in places. And it was the first time she was actually able to come and she was in the audience. And that was the highlight of the whole thing for me.

Sevan Matossian (02:57):

Oh, that’s cool.

Sean Pastuch (02:58):

So I don’t, I don’t think it’s weird at all that you liked it, your li that your wife liked it.

Sevan Matossian (03:01):

Yeah. Um, would you take her again? Was it a good experience having her there?

Sean Pastuch (03:04):

Incredible experience.

Sevan Matossian (03:06):

Um, um, were your kids there?

Sean Pastuch (03:08):

No.

Sevan Matossian (03:10):

It’s, um, the, the kid thing is we, so I used to travel a lot for work and, and it was weird because my wife, I could tell, and I traveled a lot with work with her too. She, she worked for the same company, CrossFit. So she would travel a lot often with me. But there were times like things like, I would go to the CrossFit games and I could tell like she wanted to go mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, and, and sometimes she did come with me, but other times it’s like, I would have to explain this isn’t fun. Right? At four in the morning, pack, pack the bag, uh, and start filming the behind the scenes meets a bunch of people, uh, at the hotel at five in the morning, you’re never gonna see me. And then I come home at midnight, dump cards and sleep for four hours. And I repeat that for, you know, eight days. It’s not gonna be fun.

Sean Pastuch (03:48):

Well, this was, I had an hour and a half of responsibility. Mm. So I, you know, it was Friday I gave a talk from 11:00 AM until noon. Then I did a q and a from like 1215 until 1245. And then I was free. But what I shared with my wife and what she understood before she came is that that’s, that’s what the event is asking me to come and do. But if we’re gonna be there, we’re going to be at the mixers for all the attendees. We’re gonna be in the hallway taking questions. We’re gonna make ourselves valuable to the event in a way that other people may or may not be willing to make themselves. And so if you come, that’s part of the deal. And she was all in for it.

Sevan Matossian (04:24):

Yep. Um, did she make, did she add value?

Sean Pastuch (04:27):

A hundred percent.

Sevan Matossian (04:28):

She, can you tell me how, give me like some examples.

Sean Pastuch (04:31):

So I’ll give you a perfect example. Um,

Sevan Matossian (04:33):

Listen up spouses, listen up. This is for you.

Sean Pastuch (04:36):

So, uh, there was a, there was a gentleman speaking at the event who I have immense respect for from afar. His name is Luca Hova. He owns a place called Vigor Ground in Seattle. And he’s a guy who I, I’ve, like, I’ve wanted to get to know him. I, I have a lot of respect for him. And I’m like, okay, I’m gonna, I’m gonna try to get to know Luca when I’m at this event. And he brought his girlfriend, partner, whatever you want to call it, with him. And if my wife wasn’t there, it would’ve been an odd pairing for us to hang out the three of us. But my wife and his partner hit it off in a really cool and meaningful way. And that allowed he and I to have more intimate conversations. We will talk about things that were not work. That was one way she was helpful.

(05:19):

Another way is she lends credibility to me. You know, when, when I’m there, she’s easier to like than I am. I’m easier to wanna learn from, but she’s easier to like, Hmm. And so people would come up to, to me and sh I wouldn’t be ready to talk to them because I would be talking to somebody else and she would go and say, Hey, I’m Sean’s wife, I’m Kim. How are you? Um, I’m good. And just like, I know he’ll be with you in a second. He wants to talk to everybody. He just wants to give them complete answers.

Sevan Matossian (05:48):

Great. Oh, it’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the one the right away, when, when I, the, the, I took my wife to Madison, I remember the first time for the CrossFit games. And I had a pretty big team helping me with behind the scenes a a rag tag crew of like, I don’t know, six or seven people. And one of the things I didn’t think to do was, is I needed regular updates of who was in what place after each event. So that I, then I could be like, okay, that person, I, I could, it would help me figure out who I want to talk to. Cuz the whole filming, the behind the scenes of the CrossFit games, it’s impromptu, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s basically you’re filming who you can, who’s near you, but also, like if someone just got injured or dropped 10 places or went up 10 places, you kind of wanna find them and get, get some, uh, content from them. Well, my wife right away, without me even asking, starts immediately sending me updates of the leaderboard. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> texting them to me, to the whole team. Yeah. Just, and, and just right away adds value. But, but I, but I would always have this fear and, and she never, uh, fulfilled the fear is that I was gonna have to do something for her that was gonna stop me from mm-hmm.

(06:54):

<affirmative>, you, you know, like, like what if she got sick?

Sean Pastuch (06:57):

Sure.

Sevan Matossian (06:58):

You know what I mean? And then I would have to do something for her that would take away from the, uh, job. But she, yeah. It’s awesome. Yeah. It’s so important. If you’re gonna travel with someone, if you want to do it again, add value to their trips. Add just, everyone would just add value.

Sean Pastuch (07:11):

I used to take my wife to the CrossFit games mm-hmm. <affirmative> when I would go, when I was working with the athletes. And that was a different experience. You know, like what, what I did this time as a speaker was much easier than the alternative where my Airbnb was a walk-in clinic and then I was working with athletes on their mindset and their physical performance all day from, you know, 6:00 AM until nine o’clock. 10 o’clock at night, and then going to bed. And I didn’t really have that kind of time for her when I was at the games, but she understood that and she was there to support me anyway. This was much more relaxed. This was like, we had time to have sex in between stuff, you know, like I wasn’t just shot. So,

Sevan Matossian (07:56):

God, that sounds like a great trip.

Sean Pastuch (07:58):

It was, it was awesome.

Sevan Matossian (08:00):

Hey, there’s these people in my life. Uh, uh, it’s especi. I, I see it with, um, men a lot. Well, mostly cuz most of my friends are men I guess. But they, when they have significant others around, my, my friend changes. My dad, I’ll use my dad as a classic example. Um, whenever my stepmom’s around and she’s been around for 35 years and she’s almost always around. But when she’s not around, my dad feels like he has to take care of her.

(08:25):

And it really inhibits my relationship with my dad. I’ve, I’ve accepted it. There’s nothing I can do my, now my dad’s over 80 years old. Right? Very, this is very sensitive topic for me, by the way. Very, very sensitive. And the sense that I wouldn’t want him to hear this. I mean, I’ve told him about five or six years ago, I told him, and it just went to deaf ears, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But my dad’s a completely different person. When she’s around, there’s a, a piece of him that’s gone. So I’ll give you just a, an ex a superficial example. I go visit him in Armenia. And, uh, instead of us hanging out the whole time he’s driving her places cuz he feels like she can’t take care of herself, which she can’t mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But it, but, but it’s, it’s physically, uh, socially, emotionally, intellectually. He’s, he caters to her and he’s, he’s absent for, for me, uh, to a, to a degree. And I have friends who do that when they’re girlfriends are around, they feel like they have to prop their girlfriends around to like include them. And it, it, it, this is a gross exaggeration, but it makes me hate both of them. Well, it makes me not enjoy either of them.

Sean Pastuch (09:20):

The, the, the thing that helped me know that I was marrying the right person was when I went away to chiropractic school and my wife stayed in New York when I was gone. And my friends chose to hang out with her without me saying like, Hey guys, would you include Kim? Yeah. They, they were calling her to hang out, to include her in their groups. And you know, I think one of the reasons why we’re generally attracted to healthy people is because we don’t have to do those things that you just described for a healthy person, a person who’s healthy in terms of their emotional balance, they don’t need you to prop them up. Right. If they’re not interested in the conversation, they’re not gonna be in the conversation. If they are, they’ll find a way in. Right? The person who’s physically healthy doesn’t need you to drive them around because they can get themselves around. I think innately we’re attracted to the healthiness in people because it allows us to be free.

Sevan Matossian (10:18):

I, I had, um, uh, Asia Barto on, I know you’ve had him on your podcast yesterday.

Sean Pastuch (10:22):

Asia’s a a really good friend and a client. Oh,

Sevan Matossian (10:25):

And a client. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. I didn’t even know that. And so, um, I, I just saw that, uh, he was one of the thumbnails and I listened to about 10 minutes of the podcast, um, yesterday. So he was on and his wife was on, and we were talking about birth fit mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And when he came on, you know, I see Asia and I’m, um, I’m starstruck by him and I remember our past and I, and I, and I wanna focus on him, but I quickly realize his wife actually has the information with his podcast, <laugh> podcast that I wanna do. So I quickly pivot from him. And I think we spent 80% of the podcast with her. Well, he’s just sitting there and he just sprinkles of him, uh, now and again, more just to change the pace than any added value. That’s not a dig at him at all. It was just, she’s, she works for Birth Fit. Yeah. And, and that was my interest. And he handled it like a champ. So, and never flinch, never felt like he had to insert, just,

Sean Pastuch (11:17):

He knows exactly who he is. And she’s a savage. So I’ll tell you a, a quick story about them. Uh, I don’t remember what year it was, but I wanted to learn the birth fit stuff. I just wanted to see what it was all about. I wanted to take a seminar. So I told him, I, I’ve reached out, I’m like, Hey, I’m gonna take a seminar for Birth Fit. And he’s like, why don’t you come out, stay at my house, give an active life presentation the night before, and then come take the birth at seminar. So I stayed with them for three days, got to know Asia, got to know his wife. Um, they didn’t have a baby yet, so they were still Sam’s kids. And that’s where our friendship really got started. And then for maybe three years, I tried to court him to come and be a client with us. Cuz I knew that his gym could excel with the systems that we hoped to put in place. And, uh, to his credit, he made me work really, really, really hard for it. And then finally he decided to come on board with us and he’s, he’s one of our favorite people to work with.

Sevan Matossian (12:17):

Oh, that’s awesome to hear that. Yeah. I, I, I, um, it’s interesting, you, you were very humble and gracious, uh, last time you were on, because this, each, each time I dig into, I realize how much I don’t know about what you’re really doing and I don’t get it. And yesterday I, I watched the podcast with you and a guy who looks like a, like a movie star actor, I forgot, I forget his name, but tall, thin, black-haired guy. It’s, he does that thing where he sits down and gets up with only two points of contact. You do a lot of videos with him.

Sean Pastuch (12:48):

I, I was on his show or he was on my show.

Sevan Matossian (12:50):

He was on your show. I think he works. I’m, I assume he works for you.

Sean Pastuch (12:52):

Prob probably Larry kind of looks like Clark Kemp.

Sevan Matossian (12:55):

Yeah. Tall, tall, kind. Yeah, I could, yeah, I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. Like a more modern day Clark Kent with some like frags type hair.

Sean Pastuch (13:03):

Yeah. De depend depending on the, uh, the moment in his life. Either looks like Clark Kent or like your rabbi, he’s in the other room or you’re not training a

Sevan Matossian (13:09):

Oh, I could see that. Yeah. So, so in, in the center you had, um, active life. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> on, on, you had a big whiteboard up and you guys were talking about what active life is and then active life was in the middle. And then there was, up here it was, uh, fitness. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then there was, uh, in the upper right, there was, um, therapy, like physical therapy mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then down below was Doctors and Active Life was at the center. And it, I wish I would’ve seen that the first time. That’s okay for, yeah. I had you on cuz it, that, that was a powerful picture for me. At least. I could draw a lot of inference from it just from seeing that. I mean, I listened to the whole, that 54 minute video yesterday, but I could have drawn a lot of inference and it makes me, what you’re doing is crazy bold.

Sean Pastuch (13:55):

Thanks,

Sevan Matossian (13:56):

<laugh>. Crazy bold. It’s a, um, you, you could say it’s even, um, uh, well, you have to be cocky. It’s cocky,

Sean Pastuch (14:03):

You know. Um, that was part of my problem early on, was recognizing that I needed to be cocky. And what we were doing was super bold and failing to understand that there’s a difference between being cocky and being confident. Because being cocky excludes other people, minimizes other people, dismisses other people. Being confident allows me the time in a conversation to really understand what somebody else is trying to say without having to prove them wrong. Because I can learn something from them and either incorporate it or I can understand them well enough to, to help them change their mind.

Sevan Matossian (14:47):

There was zero cockiness in the video, by the way.

Sean Pastuch (14:50):

I appreciate that. It’s been, it’s, that’s been a really, really hard work in progress.

Sevan Matossian (14:54):

But it was, um, um, I I was like, holy shit. Like, this is, let me just explain to you guys one more time. There’s people in your life that might be involved in, in, in your wellness. And those three people, those three organizations, those three ideas that might be involved will be, um, your, your CrossFit gym, uh, your Kaiser doctor and, uh, physical therapist. And, and, and they might have different pieces of advice for you. Um, they might be communicating differently for you, they might be saying contradictory shit to you. They may, um, whatever, but they’re, let’s say you have those three people as part of your holistic help program and active life is at the center of those trying, I I guess it’s an organization that helps you make sense of those three things. Um, or you could just go to active life. And I went to the doctor yesterday, by the way, for a physical mm-hmm. <affirmative>. What a, the next time anyone tries to say doctor to me and, and like make appeal to authority, I’m gonna <laugh> you. You’re just a fucking moron. I’m gonna tell you some of the shit the doctor told me yesterday. I really like the guy. Complete fucking moron. He didn’t know what the word autophagy was. A doctor and 2023 had never heard of autophagy. I asked him, are there any benefits to fasting? He had, he said he had no idea.

Sean Pastuch (16:16):

Okay.

Sevan Matossian (16:18):

He asked me five times if I stretch. I told him five times I stretch every day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I looked like no one in the waiting room. I’m a completely different, I’m a completely different, nothing in the waiting room was written in English. It was all in Espanol. Espanol.

Sean Pastuch (16:38):

Okay.

Sevan Matossian (16:38):

This is at Kaiser Watsonville. It was a trip, dude. It was a trip. The, he the, he said you wanted to live a long time with your kids. I said, yeah. He said, read this. I’m reading it. One of the main things it says on there is to make sure you cook with canola oil.

Sean Pastuch (16:53):

No,

Sevan Matossian (16:54):

I swear to fucking God, dude. Oh, that’s bad. I swear to God,

Sean Pastuch (16:58):

Dude. And here we’re you only went so he would check your prostate. I’m

Sevan Matossian (17:01):

A retard <laugh>. I was homeless

Sean Pastuch (17:04):

<laugh>,

Sean Pastuch (17:05):

That was my choice.

Sevan Matossian (17:07):

Yes. But, but Right. Yes. But it’s like, how do I know not to cook with canola oil? And yet you’re giving that to, to uh, to

Sean Pastuch (17:16):

Right, right. That, well, that’s the problem is, is that you shouldn’t have to have a level of knowledge to be able to sift through what the doctor is sharing with you. That’s bullshit,

Sevan Matossian (17:25):

Bro. At one point he said to me, uh, he’s looking through, he said, uh, okay, so there’s two shots here, tetanus, and I forget what the other one is. He said, so we’ll get those lined up. I’m like, I don’t want those. And you know what he said to me? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but they’re free.

Sean Pastuch (17:38):

<laugh>.

Sevan Matossian (17:39):

<laugh>.

Sean Pastuch (17:43):

Ah, that’s wild.

Sevan Matossian (17:44):

Oh my god. Uh, Savon saying, uh, he is homeless is like, uh, me saying I not heroin addict because I took a Tylenol at three. Shut the fuck. You don’t even know, Trish. You pipe down, you pipe down, you pipe down. Okay. Uh, yeah, the, um, so, so you’re at the center of this.

Sean Pastuch (18:05):

So we like to think so here, here’s the thing, right?

Sevan Matossian (18:07):

Is that, am I characterizing it right? Go ahead. Go

Sean Pastuch (18:09):

Ahead. You’re not miscategorizing it. I think that there’s a, there’s a more accurate way to describe it. Okay. Um, we used to say that we bridge the gap between fitness and healthcare, right? Active life bridges the gap between fitness and healthcare. And then what I came to understand is that bridging a gap means you are something that people are transiently on. They’re, they’re on it to get from point A to point B and then they’re off. And that’s not what our clients, that’s not how our clients engage with us. That’s not how our clients wanna work with us. So the way that we think of ourselves now is actually that we are the off-ramp from fitness or healthcare. We’re able to communicate with both of them. You wanna get back on, we can help you get back on by all means. We have relationships in all of those areas, but we help the person who feels like they’re left out of the fitness industry today, who doesn’t get the answers they want or need from their doctor either.

(19:01):

So they just think they have to live this minimized life. They have a back thing. They’ve been working around for five years, 10 years. They have a knee injury that’s been their problem forever. They’re 350 pounds and they don’t know how to start. They have some kind of a disease and their coach doesn’t understand how that disease interacts with intensity. When the training those people come to us, we teach coaches how to help those people in their own local network or online, whichever is more preferable to them. And then we help gyms become the model where that is the client they specialize in servicing because it makes them a category of one. It creates meaningful career paths for their staff. And it repeatedly and consistently provides reliable solutions to their members. So someone comes and they says, this is my problem. How are you going to solve it? We don’t give them all the same solution. Everybody gets whatever they need. So it’s not something that exists in fitness anywhere. And it’s certainly not in the healthcare industry. It’s something different.

Sevan Matossian (20:02):

C can you give me a, uh, a pr a practical application for it? So let’s say I have, um, I’m 40 pounds overweight. I walk in, I’m having four drinks, uh, seven nights a week. I don’t exercise. And I come in and you suspect that I’m on the verge of being an alcoholic and I probably have type two diabetes mm-hmm.

Sean Pastuch (20:21):

<affirmative>. Um,

Sevan Matossian (20:23):

And then that would, that, that could be a client of yours. Right? I saw some, I watched some of your videos last night of people who, who have jumped on the active life program.

Sean Pastuch (20:30):

Yes. That could be a client. Uh, okay. We the first thing

Sevan Matossian (20:34):

And they’re like, Hey, my, I’m gonna have about to have a life season. I’m gonna give you a lifestyle piece too. They, they’re, uh, 54 years old and their, their kids about to have kids and they wanna live long. They now have a reason to live because they have grandkids and they feel like they have a little purpose. And, and they’re concerned because their, their, their, their fingers and toes are getting gold.

Sean Pastuch (20:52):

Yep. So what I’m hearing, everything that you just described is you’re telling me that somebody is coming to us because they want to be a better example and they wanna be more present for their kids in their family in the future.

Sevan Matossian (21:04):

I, yeah. I, I wanna live, I, before I didn’t give a fuck if I died. Not like it’s 70 now I wanna live to 75. Right. And play with my grandkids. Right.

Sean Pastuch (21:11):

I follow. So there are elements of that that we would be a great fit to help them with. And there’s elements that we would need help. If you’re drinking that many times per week, there there could be an addiction there that we’re not suited to, to solve with you. We’re gonna have the conversation about that.

Sevan Matossian (21:27):

You do.

Sean Pastuch (21:28):

And Oh hell yeah. So with that person, let me start here. Last time you said something that was, um, that was key and we kind of glossed over it and moved on. And many people after the show brought it up to me that we should unpack it a little bit more next time. And it was, you said, it almost sounds like you need to interview people before you can work with them. And I said we do. So that person would come to us first on what we would call a discovery call. And on the discovery call, what we’re doing is evaluating do we believe that this person is ready for what we do right now? Do we genuinely believe that we can help this person today? If after that conversation we recognize that, oh, the reason why you’re drinking four days a week is your relationship is on the rocks, you have low self-esteem, you are chasing something that you’re never going to catch whate, whatever the case might be.

(22:21):

We would’ve conversations around, are you seeing somebody for that? Are you having conversations with a therapist, with a coach, with somebody who specializes in those kinds of problems? And if they weren’t, we would highly suggest that they do. If we felt like those problems were too large for us to overcome, we wouldn’t even take them as a client. We would tell them that we feel like we would be unsuccessful working with them because these things are rocks that are too big in the way. And we want to connect you to somebody who we are confident would do a much better job helping you with this first. Cuz when, when this is clear we can help you next.

Sevan Matossian (23:01):

What would that look like? Where I would say no, I actually, I I don’t want to address my drinking. I think it’s fine. Or if I was combative and push back,

Sean Pastuch (23:09):

Uh, if you were combative and you pushed back, or if you started to spiral, you know, you start to go down this path of like all these things about your childhood, your wife doesn’t, doesn’t understand you and you know, you have difficulty at home and you just need an escape from all of this. So you’re looking for a place to act like we’re not an escape. You know, we’re, we’re a very intentional place where you, you don’t get to shut off. You come in and you, you shut off everything else and then you turn on very much what’s happening here, but then you go back to it. We don’t want to medicate you, if you will, for an hour so that you end up going back to everything the way that it was before. So we would connect that person with a mental health professional if we felt like, look, you just haven’t considered the damage that you’re doing to yourselves.

(23:55):

And if we can provide you with some self-awareness there, would that influence behavior change? Yeah. Would, okay, well then it sounds like you’re a perfect fit for us. But now when that person comes in, what, what I think oftentimes what happens next is they go from discovery call to a consult. So discovery calls, we think we can help you. And this happens, by the way, for gym owners who wanna work with us, for coaches who wanna work with us and for individuals who wanna work with us, it doesn’t matter. It’s the same process. Discovery call. Do we think we can help you? Do we think that you would enjoy working with us? The next step would be a consultation. Because in that one, you are really going to get to learn about us in the first one. We wanna learn about you in the second one, we wanna learn a little bit more about you, but we wanna make sure you understand everything about us and how this is going to work. So you can decide for yourself if you think that this is gonna be a fit. Hmm. Uh, if we believe it’s going to be a fit and you believe it’s going to be a fit, then we make an offer to bring you on as a client. Whichever kind of client it is.

(24:55):

Once you become a client,

Sevan Matossian (24:56):

Hey, how many clients do you do? You actually reject a lot of people

Sean Pastuch (24:59):

More than we accept.

Sevan Matossian (25:00):

Wow. No shit. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that’s kind of nice.

Sean Pastuch (25:03):

Yeah. And you know, it’s, it’s most of those people

Sevan Matossian (25:07):

Is it always because of that? They’re just not ready? No,

Sean Pastuch (25:10):

No, no. Oh, so, so, so, so if we get, for example, I’ll give you the, the example of the person who we wouldn’t accept, who shouldn’t work with us, who was probably listening to your show. If you are a CrossFit gym owner who says, I love CrossFit, I want everybody to be in the open in my gym next year, I don’t believe that we need or want personal training in the gym. I think that we can solve problems through CrossFit. What you would hear from me is I agree with you and we’re not the company who can help you do that in a way that would be exciting or meaningful for you. I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends. Do you know, and I would introduce him to either Jason Ackerman at Best Hour, to Stu Brower at what the fuck Jim Talk or to Chris Thorndike at Factory Forged. Those are the three that I typically go to. And I would say these people are gonna do a better job helping you in your business than we are helping you in your business.

Sevan Matossian (26:03):

Hmm. Okay. Okay.

Sean Pastuch (26:05):

But if you say like, look, there, there are people in our gym who are scaling today, who have been scaling for six months and nothing is changing. It’s not cuz they’re too weak, it’s not. Cuz they lack the skill. They’re lacking range of motion. Something hurts them. They are afraid to do the thing, whatever it is. And we really wanna help those people. You’re, you’re a client for us because we wanna help people stop scaling scale and, and then, and figure out how to not need to scale long term.

Sevan Matossian (26:32):

Th this may be off subject just a tiny bit, but there’s this thing that I see periodically every three months, it crosses in front of my eyeballs and it says, Hey, if you’re working out and you’re not getting or better or stronger, you’re doing the wrong. And every time, that kind of hits me wrong because I, I like, I, I like, um, I like, I like routine. Are you

Sean Pastuch (26:53):

Saying you see that from us?

Sevan Matossian (26:54):

No, no, no, I don’t. No, no, no. I’m not saying I I’ve seen that from you. I, um, I’m just saying in terms of I, what what sparked that thought is when you say, yeah, we have people who’ve been doing the, you know, they come in and for six months they’re, they’re still scaling. I’m Okay. Um, I, I, I, I’ve, I’ve stopped trying to get better, uh, in the last four years. That’s a little of a gross exaggeration. I, I like, you know what I mean? I still,

Sean Pastuch (27:18):

I know exactly what you meant. Uh,

Sevan Matossian (27:20):

Like, it’s not like I’ll always do air squats. I still will do lunges, but I, I haven’t gotten, but I haven’t been injured in four years. Hmm. I’m stoked. Well, I’m fucking, I’m fucking stoked it. But, um, and, and my life has variance. Right? Just my life has variance, but I don’t work out to, I’m not interested in, um, I’m, I don’t care about my numbers at all. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> zero.

Sean Pastuch (27:44):

Right.

Sevan Matossian (27:44):

So, but they like poo poo you like you’re doing something wrong. If you’re not getting better. It’s like, listen motherfucker,

Sean Pastuch (27:49):

Well that those, I don’t think you’re,

Sevan Matossian (27:51):

I need to shuffle me showing up every day is,

Sean Pastuch (27:53):

I don’t, I don’t think you’re gonna hear that from a lot of 50 year olds.

Sevan Matossian (27:56):

Right. Because,

Sean Pastuch (27:57):

Because what what what I think you’re hearing and I see the same thing Yeah. And I’ve said the same thing. I’ve been that person, when you’re in your twenties and even your thirties to some degree, you can make progress every year. And then it’s, it’s in the level one, the idea is to slow the rate of decay Yeah. Not to Yeah. Like,

Sevan Matossian (28:16):

You’re not kind of in that mindset. Yes. You’re not

Sean Pastuch (28:17):

Gonna PR in 82. Unlikely. So,

Sevan Matossian (28:21):

Or you have to find really crazy things to PR in. Right. So like something like, so something I’ve been balancing on one foot on those balance blocks mm-hmm. <affirmative> and because I’ve never done that before in my life. I’m setting all sorts of prs for how long I can stand there touching my toes on one foot, all sorts of, I’m finding other things that I can excel at that I’ve never done before.

Sean Pastuch (28:37):

Sure. And that makes sense. Yeah. But that’s not what they’re talking about.

Sevan Matossian (28:40):

Right. Right. I know, you

Sean Pastuch (28:41):

Know, um, what you are doing, what what you’re doing right now is what we would call an active life. Practical fitness, not functional fitness. The difference being, uh, I think that functional fitness leaves a lot of room for access to be celebrated. So, mm. You know, how, how much do you need to squat in terms of weight before you no longer need to worry that you’re going to struggle to get off of the toilet when you’re in your eighties? How, you know, how much do you need to be able to clean and jerk before you’re no longer worried that you’re gonna be able to put the pitcher on the top shelf when you celebrate your friends in your seventies and eighties? Right. I think that what happens is we see the pursuit of more as good because in a lot of ways it is good, but in the pursuit of more of certain things, we, we neglect the improvement of other things that are less sexy, that are less obvious. Like, for example, standing on one foot. Yeah. You know, the, the, the number

Sevan Matossian (29:46):

One Yeah. Getting up off the ground with that. I did. I spent 10 minutes doing that yesterday. Yep. Getting off the ground with only two points Yep. Of contact. And I actually can’t do it without, um, I mean, I can do it, but I have to use some momentum.

The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.

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