Unbreakable with Jay Glazer: A Mental Wealth PodcastWelcome to Unbreakable! A mental wealth podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. On today’s episode, Jay goes inside the huddle with Super Bowl Champion and 2021 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Andrew Whitworth. Come on in and soak up the great laughs, phenomenal stories, and incredible mental wealth knowledge!
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This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental wealth podcast, build you from the inside out. Now here's Jay Glacier.
Welcome into Unbreakable mental Wealth podcast with Jay Glazer. I'm Jay Glazer, and the guests I happened right now. Last time I had him on is Andrew Whitworth, who's probably the best looking guest I have ever had on this show by far. Now, if you put the hat on me, we lose the effect.
No, no, no, I'm hiding.
But when he was on in the.
Past, it was a mental health podcast, and then what I found was guys like myself, guys like Lane Johnson, Michael Phelps. We're trying to show people that mental health was not all gray, it's not all depression, anxiety, all this. But I just kept still walking into these roadblocks where people are like, Jay, I don't know if I want to come on and talk about darkness or talk about depression. I'm like, that's not what mental health is about. So I changed it to Mental Wealth. And the reason why I did change in Mental Wealth is our whole point of when you talk about mental health, it's not just like, hey, this is where we are. We talk about mental health so we can build ourselves up, so we can build mental wealth.
And you know, Andrew's guy.
For all these athletes out there, those six inches between your ears have mental health at least to mental wealth, at least to generational wealth for your grandkids on that field.
And I want to you know, for every athlete out there, every businessman. I want to really take people through.
We started training Win twelve years ago or something like that, early days in mixed martial arts for him to help himself turn football into a fight. But now Witch training guys in a place called the village up.
In Westlake Village, right, yep, uh yeah, Lake Village. So he's taken.
Now he's become the grasshopper, has become the what are the things from kung thru?
The grasshopper becomes to.
Me, I'm not a kung fu guy, but you spend some wisdom on me.
Right, grasshopper becomes the teacher?
Is that?
What is? So we're gonna go kind of go over together today. A lot of our training methodology all between the years behind the ribcage of what really leads to greatness, and that greatness again, it's not how famous you're being famous, have the same as being.
Great, it's not.
You know, what you start with, how much work you put in, and then the hours that you put into work when no one's watching. So that's probably the longest introduction I've ever had. First of all, how are you, buddy?
I'm good brother, I'm happy you have me on again. Man, this is this is a great.
I love it. Man.
You no obviously get the last time I had you on. I think it was like my third guest.
Yeah, back in the day, back in the startup.
I love it.
It's been awesome to follow, man, I mean it's really cool to hear people's journeys and and really just you know, seeing successful people and people who've gone you know, road the roller coaster that is life and found out what their happy place is and what their mental you know, healthy spot is and you know, when you're really chasing that mental wealth, what does that look like? And how do you find that root teens, it's cool to hear that we're all really sharing the same experiences and things, although sometimes we may not open up about it. It's really been really neat to hear the journey that different guys have gone on.
I think so many more have opened up about it than from the time you did to not look. I did a feature of the Super Bowl with AJ Brown, Right, well we just hey, we're mental health buddies. Now that's how we connected. We would never connected and stuff like that. I think it's actually we're talking about leading to mental wealth. The more you open up by your mental health, these relationships a they form be friends, hurt for friends to brothers, right or friends to sisters, you become family. I think it makes you a lot deeper.
Yeah, there's no doubt because I think when you really talk about what is mental wealth, it's no different than when we say, hey, the difference and you know some of us that came from nothing, and all of a sudden, you get a couple of bucks, you think you can spend somewhere and you think you're rich, and then you meet somebody who's actually wealthy. I think the difference is when you really talk about mental wealth. I think it's a combination of all those moments you've been through, chasing mental health and chasing hey, how do I get healthy? And then how do I put all those things together to find what is the best version of me? When I'm in that space, when I'm in that spot where I know this is where I'm meant to be. These are the people that I'm meant to be around. What's that circle that I'm involved in that really makes me feel of We call it all the time, Jay our locker room.
But what is mental wealth?
It's a combination of that entire journey and all those things coming together. And that's what really makes you wealthy, is that you know what, Yeah, you're gonna have mental health days. You're gonna have days, or you're down. You're gonna have days, or you're frustrated with yourself, but that ability to build mental wealth will get you through those moments, either through yourself in ways you know how to reflect, or through your circle and the people who are in your circle, they're gonna stand there right with you and help you get back to that wealthy spot.
Yeah.
Look, mental health wise, dang adversity is a gift. Like there's no podcast or books out there from the times are good. We don't need that shit, Yep, we just need them have to how to navigate through when those waters are rough. And that's where I think there's you know things like this now that are more readily available, which wouldn't have been a few years ago.
Right, here's what we're gonna do. We'll dive right in here, all right.
And again, first time I met Andrew, I said, man, for all you athletes out there, say hey, you gotta make football fight.
Okay, that game starts, that cage.
Door locks, and you better make that dude across from you beg to get out of that cage from you. And it's it's so funny. I would tell Witt and all these other players, and it's a complete opposite. I tell everybody in life now, if you were hurt or tired, you will never ever, ever fucking know in that cage inside those lines. You don't fucking show it. Right, no hands in our hips, neutral face, we don't show it. We don't show it.
Now.
Conversely, I now talk to group saying, all right, that mentality is needed for the field, It is needed.
For a cage, for a ring.
But that same mentality gets people like me to fucking crawl up in the corner of my room crime in the middle of the nither. I want to throw myself off a bridge. So throw that out for the rest of life. That's the mental health part. We need you to be able to compartmentalize and say, Okay, I could be two different people. I could be this savage inside you know lines and on that field and in that cage, and I could be the guy who shows himself compassion and could show that pain and be vulnerable often. But let's get back to warrior glaze warrior Andrew. And I bring this up because we've taught players over and over and over and over if you're hurt or tired, you don't show it. You don't show it. If you watched Andrew Whitworth, and I bring this up to every athlete we have. Andrew did not go in the huddle like everybody else, right, but your head. Instead of putting your head fully in the audel, you ducked your ear in. And we always say is let's see who the fuck is breathing heavy, Let's see's hurt it, Let's see whose body language is given up.
Take it from there, Andrew, Yeah, I just you know, it became a switch to where I wanted to stare down much like and you know, and fighting in a lot of aspects of martial arts, you know, you never turn.
Your back to your opponent.
So I became someone who I never forget Sean McVay taking the job in seventeen. He's like, why the hell do you not turn your body into the huddle and put your back to the defense, And I was like, I mean, I can listen, but I want to watch. I want to stare at them, obviously for reasons that I want to see football wise, of like communication they're doing and things that may give me tells, but mainly I want to be the psychopath that like they're like, man, why is this dude staring at me this entire twenty thirty seconds where we're waiting for them to come a line of scrimmage where I just kept eye contact at all times with the d line and the linebackers and those guys, because I felt like it was a mental message we're both exhausted, we're both tired, but I will not break eye contact with you, and we're going to be engaged in this battle the entire day, no matter what. And so it always became something I'll never forget one of my favorite moments over my career. Obviously, I shared the Derek Bond story from the Lion game and that at my Walter Paytonman in the Year speech of just not realizing that that that connection from way back in my rookie year. But my favorite one is we're in Washington playing the Commanders and Chase Young is looking at me stare at him, and literally my test sweat walks over there and they're like kind of having a conversation and I can hear Chase Young go yeah right, and so he finally just screams across the huddle. He goes, bro, are you really thirty nine years old? And I'm like yeah, And at that time, I think Chase is twenty two, twenty three years old, and it just blew him away that this old thirty year old man is just staring him down, and it was like it was the greatest moment where he's like, Wow, this is cool.
This dude's a gangster. Basically, Uh, it was neat.
Yeah, I fucking love it.
Man. Look we the story I was trying to tell when I meet with or any of these players can train is our My partner to all this.
They started with was Randy Couturu's six.
Time world heavyweight and light heavyweight champ of the UFC and did it when he was forty seven years old. But man, Randy has this fight against a guy named Mike Van Rsdel for the Number one contender job and No. One spot, and nobody knows Randy has a staff infection going to that fight.
Dude literally has a pick line in cannot train.
But the way our players and our fighters go at it is, we don't even really give a fuck if we win or lose. We just want that round, that fight, that minute to be the worst round fight minute of your life. And we get off on that. And if you could take that ego out of oh fuck, I gotta I gotta fight not to lose, or I gotta better make sure I win, it makes you a lot more dangerous. We just want to be this torrential downpour of violence and whatever happens happens. Let's roll the dice. So Randy goes out and does what we do and just you know, play it by his own set of rules. You know, there's there's sometimes you can have in there. Some call a grappler's agreement, like you do this, okay, they respond that way. They respond that Randy's doesn't do that way, Like if you grab Randy's leg, you're gonna get an elbow in the head. If you try and come off top. You're gonna get a take down over here with an helbow to the head of this. It just it just doesn't nothing can gru it and and rightfully sight.
So like fuck you, I played by my wolves.
Yep.
But Randy wears this dude out so bad, but randon his staff infection. So he comes over to the stool and it's the only time my boy was really gonna sit down in his stool.
He's about to die.
And he turns and he sees Mike van Arsdale PLoP down on his stool, and Randy just had this whole another fuck, I'm not gonna show it.
I'm not gonna show it.
I'm not gonna show it his birth of life, raising his arms to the crowd and all this stuff.
And really he just broke them.
And he broke them because he never showed that he was about to fucking die and he just kept out of that. Van hars Van Orsdale was a stud, a total stud. And yeah, he broke them and that same and by the way, the fight was over by.
The seconds later.
Yeah, and if you don't show it, like I like, what's said, the same thing as somebody going to their school not taking a seat and then looking at Andrew Wilworth like, why the fuck is this guy sitting down?
Why is he not taking a stool? Why is he not tired like me?
And I think with I tell players, is now everyone signs up to play a game, the rare sign up to play.
I agree.
I think that's the part of this game that has changed. And I wouldn't say that it's changed in totality. I think it's changed with certain guys. And I think that now the guys who are really about that life and really want to play that style of football stick out like they're so much greater than a lot of other guys in this game right now, in the game of football, because that is kind of a lost start and it is something that isn't the you know, the mentality of a lot of guys. And so the guys who are about that life now stick out a lot more because there was a time when when you got when I got in the league, that that was this part of life you want to be alignment in the NFL like it was a fight I'll never forget, you know, my second year in the league, having to go in the game against Jared Allen as the left tackle was our left tackle went down and like I was playing left guard that season and moved over during the game. And I always tell people like, yeah, I don't know if it was good batter and different, you can get a sacking of that. But what I do know is for the forty something snaps we faced each other, it felt like I was just in a bar in a fight, Like that's that's all we did, is just swinging at each other, trying to get each other in the ground, and you know, and I played him a couple of times after that once it became the left tackle from then on, and that's always what it was, and that's how we played football back then. And so it just was a bar fight. There was no talking, there was no chatter. When I played Terrell Suggs or James Harrison, we never once spoke to each other because it was just a fight. And then later in my career it's like I'd have full on conversations with guys at timeouts because they'd want a chit chat, you know, And it just the mentality of that changed a lot. And so it is it is way different, and I think it sticks out in this game. The guys that really built with that kind of lifestyle and really, man, they like to make it nasty, they like to get after it. I think it really sticks out in the game.
You think we could teach guys to turn into a fight. That's if you turn into a fight, it's right to tell guy you maging a fight. Ninetyer some of the guys from you're going to hit their helmet and tap out. You want nothing to do with it. But you also have to put all this fucking work in when no one's watching. That's the sacrifice that it doesn't just come naturally.
You know, You've got to put this work in. She become this fucking animal.
Yeah.
I think that's the biggest part to me, Jay, is that what I see And there's some guys now that I'm you know, try to help and I'll reach out to with the gym and say, hey, man, listen, this isn't something that's some big business venture for me. This is like my life, like, uh, this is what I love to do, and it's who like when I wake up every day and I think, you know what I'm I'm the protector of my four children and my wife. I've always said this, I was famous when I was in Cincinnati. I said, I have two contracts in my life. I've signed two deals. One is to protect Andy Dalton. One is to be you know, married to Melissa Whitworth. And I treat both of those with the same kind of respect in the sense that I'm the pct protector of those people.
And I take a lot of pride in that. And what does that mean.
It doesn't mean just jumping in a moment like oh, somebody pushed Andy Dalton and now you got to stand up for him, or oh, somebody's disrespectful of my wife and now all of a sudden, in the moment, I'm gonna do something. It means that every single day, twenty four hours a day, my mentality is is I'm in the kind of shape am I in preparing myself for when that moment comes. So like even right now, like hey, you're retired, you played for sixteen years, played seventeen thousand snaps in the NFL. Man At six am, I'm pounding weights in the gym. At seven am, I'm taking my kids to school. At eight am, I'm on a cardio machine doing cardio. At nine am ten am, I'm boxing on the heavy bag. Then I'm gonna sit around in the gym, hang out for the guys to come in, and then later when my kids come in, I might get in a sauna.
I might hop on a rogue bike.
Like whatever it is, it ain't about burning calories getting to work out it and it's about, man, how can I just continue?
What's that one percent? What does it look like?
Like?
Am I gonna sit on my ass in a chair and watch TV? Or am I gonna just? Man?
What if somebody took me to a little deeper water than I think I could go?
Can I handle it? Like?
I don't know when that scenario is coming? Maybe I think Gladiators coming back at some point, or you know, three thousand. I don't know what's gonna happen. I may we're probably not going back to those days, but my ass is.
Gonna be ready if we do.
And that's kind of the mentality I live with, is that those moments don't just happen. I'm prepared for those moments because that's how I live my life. And so I think when I look across the league today, there's too many guys that are enjoying what it means to look like an NFL football player. But I don't know if they know what it means to Chase to be a good NFL football player, to be a great one. They just enjoy the lifestyle and they enjoy being able to.
Say they do it. You know, Hey, man, you want to come work out?
Yeah, come on, I'll be gone for like two three weeks, but I'll be back.
You know.
It's like, no, man, Like, this has gotta be your life. If this is what you want to do and you want to be great at it, and you won't do it for a really long time, It's got to become what you do day in and day out. It's not about the one time you show up.
It's funny, But first of all, I think some of the issue is, again, being famous is not the same as being great, and it gets confused nowadays. So I've been covering the league for thirty This is my thirty fourth year coming up, and man, I used to go to the Pro Bowl. It was my favorite trip every year. It used to be after the Super Bowl. But the only way you really got endorsements back then is to go to the Pro Bowl. Nobody missed the Pro Bowl. Oh my god, not only that being the insider. All these guys would call me like the day or two before. It was the Jared Allens and the Tony Gonzalezes and the Michael Strahans and the Brian Irlackers.
Did I make it? Did I make it? To the John Lynches, did I make it?
Like?
Guys are so like did I make it?
And I used to ask the league to give me the list of my guys early so I can let him know, so you'd have to worry about it for the extra twenty four hours.
But they cared that much. It was about being great.
It's about being recognized as being great, because that's the only way you're gonna get recognized. Where now dick dock Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or all that stuff. X better fuck you call it right, you're famous. And it's like, you know, going into a fight with a full with a full belly. You know it doesn't work going it It's the same as going in starving. You've got to now play buying games with yourself to be starving, starving. As and Andrew Whitworth putting these hours in starting at six o'clock in the morning, gang when no one's watching the Secret of greatness is putting in work where.
No one's watching.
Lane Johnson, who we've had for fucking twelve years, and some bitch took off fucking one week and started powerlifting right away. The only time you know about it when he fucking posts about it, but he is. It doesn't stop. It's a sickness the Aaron Donald's of the world. It's a sickness. And you know what's better than being great fucking nothing?
Yeah, it is, Jay.
And you know what's what's interesting, man, is it's it's It's one of those things that you know, And I say this to my kids all the time when they ask these questions because they're obviously hitting that age as being in teenagers and they're curious and they don't know why this guy's good or this guy's good. And I always say, like, you know, it's really one of those things that we get sometimes that the majority of our day are decided by habits we've either intentionally created or you know what, passively allowed. And when I was at LSU, something that really taught me. I wasn't a hard worker in school. I was a big kid who was really athletic. I played basketball in high school and I got to LSU under Nick Saban and I still to this day say it's the greatest coach I've ever been around. You know, I've used a lot of his influences to help when I've mentor Sean or been around Sean in my career, because I see a lot of those two guys that similarities and a lot of who they are. And Nick used to always say to the coaches every like he wasn't just hard on players like people say all this stuff about me and hardened players. No, he's His sense of urgency every day was on every single person that came across his path, and it was coaches, players and everything. And if you were in a practice and I messed up who I was had to block, or I was tired throwing up and I had to be taken out of the drill, you know, he wouldn't say.
Come after me.
He would go to my line coach and he would rip that o line coach right in front of the whole entire team. And his philosophy was always you either coach it or you allow it. And I have used that principle to me to one of the things I love to do. And I always say This is like you got to be able to take things you learn and go, you know what, how can I apply that in a bunch of different ways? And I think when you find things like that, your ability to really apply it a bunch of differ ways in your life is really significant.
And so to me, I apply it this way. Every day.
I either am choosing and coaching myself to be a certain human being or I am allowing myself to be this way today. And so I gotta make a choice every day, like, hey, you know what, I can allow myself to say today kind of feels like a lay in the bed day. Today kind of feels like a drop the kids off and go have a couple drinks. And I'm gonna end up tomorrow, even though that might be a fun day, I'm gonna end up tomorrow being mad at myself. Right, I'm gonna end up being mad at my lazer, That's right. And so I gotta choose every day do I coach do allow it? And so I've always applied that to myself because that's really what we're trying to do. And for people that want to do that, man, it's not as crazy like you just heard me list my day. It's not as crazy as you think. It's about choosing that, Hey, tomorrow, I'm gonna start a better habit. Like I'm gonna start whatever it is. Maybe I'm gonna cold plunge, maybe I'm getting asna. Maybe I'm gonna go walk. Maybe I'm gonna just take a few steps more than I normally do a day, whatever that is. Just create that habit. You'll start to get that positive feeling, those those vibes from it that you'd be like, oh, man, I feel little better about myself today just because of that, And then that'll become contagious, and then you'll get addicted to that feeling, and then all of a sudden you'll start to add little things along the way. Think of it as creating new habits and not some big, huge, Oh wow, how would I ever get to this stage that they're talking about, because it seems like, man, I could never do it.
You can.
You just got to start to create one little good habit and let it lead to another.
Look the work effort we're talking about.
There's also there's different ways to fight, but this work ethic, it's pressure pressure pressure. The way our fighters fight, the way Whitworth plays, it's pressure. Every time he puts his hands on you. You gonna make it hurt, right, every time you make it hurt.
Yeah, and the other thing and like and there's got to be little things in your life that show that, you know, Like one of the things I was famous for when I played, like, you know, our special teams. Coach would always show the guys this when we'd have our kind of situational master meetings. He'd be like, hey, he'd be showing a clip to teach the guys. He'd be like, hey, I want you to notice something real quick, because I don't know if you guys see this every single week. But regardless of the score, regardless of the situation, regardless of what just happened on the drive before, every single time we take the field, Whitworth sprints to the hashes and he beats every player on the field of the huddle. Like every time we could be down forty points, we could be up forty points. He's sprinting no matter what. And I always would say when guys will be like, why do you do that? I'll never forget Cooper Cup and Tyler Higb be like, ask me that when I was a ram and then there'd be little moments where they try to beat me in a game, like a all of a sudden, they'd like sprint with me, and I would laugh because it's like in their mind and be like, oh, we beat you. And they'd be like, no, you just did exactly what.
I hope happens.
I got you to do it.
Yeah, I hope that you do it too, because what they didn't realize is is that was I was thirty eight, thirty nine, forty years old than my career Jay, Like, I get that these guys are looking up to me, but what could I easily do? Hey, man, you've earned the right. You're old, you've played this game forever. Everybody looks up to you. Like, I'll be the last guy in the huddle. I'm just gonna walk out there. I'm gonna take my place because I've earned it. I can sit on the throne because I've earned the right to do that. No, no, no, no, I don't ever want you to see that side. That side means I'm taking what I got and saying, you know what, I want to enjoy it. No, I'm gonna be the first one to beat your ass out there. So he can be like, Wow, this dude's played more snaps than me, he's got more injuries than me, he's got more reason to walk, and he sprints his ass out there every time. And to me, that starts to get in guys heads like, man, am I as committed as that dude is? And so from my teammates it means something. And for those guys that you're playing against, they're like, man, I don't know if I want to go as far as this guy wants to go, right, And so that was a message that I always felt like I had the opportunity to send, regardless of whether we're up or down, or what the feelings or emotions are. I don't choose emotions. I choose what is my mentality every time I walk in the ring.
I really want people to hear that, because you we're talking about for pro athletes, but you could use this for anything.
Yes, we're talking about this pressure, pressure pressure, right, like we don't let up. We don't let up.
You throw one punch, I threw five, right, We're worth funtime on the field.
So that pressure, pressure, bitch, pressure really breaks people.
But what it also does so a you know, the secret success is you're all work in the world, right, not by a little by law as Tom Brady what a different Yeah, that's what it was, right, how you tell everybody all the time, but I know who the best is and do more than them.
That's it.
But also it provides you a measure chaos. Most people cannot handle chaos. Those of us crazies who do things like this, and we talk about our anxiety. We're not great in a lot of public settings. But because we have this anxiety, this chaos that we create, we are great in chaos.
Most people aren't.
Where there's this business or sport and you create this chaos and you're comfortable in it, most people will tap out business or sport.
Yeah, And I think that's the thing is that you just got to figure out. And that's why I meant by taking some of these things and saying, all right, how can I apply it to what I do? Like, I'm still able to take a lot of those principles and apply it to working on Thursday night football. I'm able to apply it to doing a podcast. I'm able to apply it to those things. Because what is pressure, Like pressure is is I'm willing to go places I don't think other people will go. Like in my career outside of training really one on ones with guy with yourself and randing some of those guys, and then like you know, later in my career at the very end, I trained with Ryan Sorenson.
But I never worked out at facilities.
I never went in big groups and worked out because I loved feeling like I don't know what every other guy does, but I'm gonna go as farther or farther than I think they'll go by myself, And like that always helped me when I'd show back up with a team and be like, wow, okay, I'm in better shape than these guys, because it's like almost it was a positive to not know well in life and business and everything else, Like it's not about oh man, all right, I'll be the first one to work and then I'll stay longer than anybody else.
I'm not saying that. I'm not saying things.
That are like not really positive, but hey, what are things that I can do to get ahead? Like is it reading up on information? Is it applying pressure? By every single time I walk into business meeting with people, I'm gonna know as much or more than any person that's in that room. I'm gonna be over prepared for situations like at all times, and so that is applying pressure to people you're around. I'm gonna ask awesome questions. I'm gonna be a fantastic listener. I'm gonna listen to people and I'm gonna say, Hey, how do I do I actually sit in a meeting and do I listen to respond?
Or am I just waiting to talk? Like?
How do I apply pressure? A pressure isn't some negative thing, it's a great thing. You could be making a room so much better by applying pressure of being the best question asker in that room, the best listener, the best at having empathy and understanding the situation and what we're trying to accomplish as a company. I can apply those principles as being great at something by applying pressure to everyone around me at the way I'm gonna do something, Hopefully other people will do it as well, and that's only gonna make us better if we're all putting pressure on each other to be great at whatever it is we're doing.
Look as an NFLU signer, my job's break news or have inside information.
On a Sunday, it wouldn't know it. I'm probably one thousand calls a week.
Yep, I don't stop.
It never stops. It never stops, It never stops.
And you know, I don't do the twitter breaking news stuff anymore because it doesn't make sense to who could tweet fast? But I'm foxing about Sunny. You always hear something that you don't hear anywhere else, and that's I think. Now, that's I think a true insider. But I put in literally thousands of phone calls per week for you know, five minutes of TV each week. And that's fine that you have to do. That's the amount of work gifts. But so when when it was playing or what was training with us? And I kind of struggle with players now with his wind, his work out with us was we did like five minutes of hips for him.
Every day.
He did a fucking hour and a half lift that he did, an hour of midst martial arts, he did an hour of fucking recovery.
It was every day.
And now I got guys going, hey, can I come up once or twice a week? And I'm going, I don't think I can make you a fighter, And once or twice a week it doesn't really work like that. It's fucking fight, can't man, just changing your life, you know, and and it's it's hard to get up guys to understand. And it kind of always I've marveled at it because like went Max Crosby last year and he said, I always ask people to come in when I started six am, but like I'm in, he says, no one ever comes. You know, Lane Johnson, who we've had for fucking twelve years, He's like, nobody wants to do this shit, And I don't understand why you wouldn't in such a short period put that extra work in to do what you've done, saying, shit, it's gonna suck during the time, but it's gonna suck way more if they closed that glass and my team photo for the rest of my life, my grandkids see someone average.
That's what I can remember, even after, you know, we lose the Super Bowl in eighteen and I'm like, man, I still want to keep playing, but like am I stupid?
And like is it ridiculous?
At thirty eight, I want to play NFL football steel Like you know, I want to commit to it and I want to stay in. I think this is the right decision, and I remember I ran into Wayne Gretzky at Sherwood where I live here. He's a member here, going to play golf there all the time and has recently moved, but he was here, he's playing golf, and I saw him and he was like, dude, so much respect for you, love watching you play, but let me let me just leave you one thing before I go play. And I said, yeah, what's that, Wayne, And he goes, man, make them rip that jersey off your back. And I was like, man, that's what I needed to hear, is to hear an all time great who has accomplished everything could possibly accomplish. And even him, he's like, man, I wish I had one more chance to skate on that ice, Like you make them rip that jersey off your back, And so that really I never forget him telling me that. And I've always told guys that is that, you know what, like, make them rip that jersey off your back, Like this is one of the greatest things you'll ever get to do. Being a part of something way bigger than yourself is one of the best feelings.
In the world.
It's like, it's wide to me and you and I have had this conversation recently, like even playing football, like being in that locker room going through a season Thursday night football, same thing, traveling with our crew, like being invested in these games, like loving it, you know, doing all those things, and all of a sudden, when you get these breaks, it's like, man, I tail spend because it's like, man, I, Oh, where'd all that go that I was pouring into? And then you go all right, shoot, like what is my rhythm?
What's my vibe?
Those things are your struggle. But the truth is that you just you're realizing, actually it's a great thing because it's like, I'm realizing how special that is. Man, I'm actually you know, you're in the moment you're thinking, man, I can't wait for the off season.
But really, man, you freaking love it.
And that's why you feel that way is because you absolutely love the crew you're with, You love what you do that you're so invested in it and you're chasing those thousand calls every week that really what you're feeling is, shoot, man, I miss that other love of my life that really I don't realize how much passion and energy I put into and it's helped me to really like understand that and go all right, that just means I need to go pour my passion and energy to this other thing.
And so I think for me it's like that.
It's like, man, I just wish guys would understand, like the more you actually put into it, the more you'll actually fall.
In love with it.
It's like any other relationship, your significant other, your kids, everything else. Like the more you pour into it, the more you'll get out of it. And I think some guys just missed that because they're jaded by probably away. A lot of things have changed in high school with money, with nil and college to where it's all transactional, and man, transformational life is way better than transactional life.
Man, Like, I don't.
Want to say when I'm done football, media everything like I was successful. I want to say I was significant. I want to live a life of significance. I want people to go, Man, I'm so glad Andrew Whitworth was in my life. I'm so glad that I got a chance to be that dude's teammate. I'm so glad that I had a chance to be his friend. That is significance. That's not success. And so I think success will happen if you live a life of significance in the way that it's meant to for you and so for me. Man, that's what I see in guys. I just hope guys understand that that is bigger than the check. It's bigger than the notoriety to have that opportunity one day to feel like you lived a life of significance, You made a difference.
Fucking love people. Look and again, there is a there is a method to this madness too.
If you guys want to any pro athletes want to come train with Wit and eye out there, it's up here in a place called the village. You can d M him, DM me. But it's fucking all in. We have guys work in Storre and sent who's gonna train you every day. We're gonna do mma with you three four days, five days a week. But it's gonna work with you. But it's a fucking commitment. You're all in, not Hey, can I let me get a couple of workouts in with Ryan or let me I want to learn a hand fight and once it's it doesn't work like that. We don't spar one day going into a fight. It doesn't work like that. And I want people to understand the level of commitment that it really takes to be great, and don't leave those fucking regrets on the floor. It's up to you, nobody else. It's up to you. You're not gonna get lucky and have a great career. Doesn't work like that. It does not work like that. And you may have a lucky cats, you may have a lucky pass, but you're not gonna bit lucky and have a great career. And if you have a really good career but you're skin and by, you're gonna fucking regret that too, because one day you could have put a gold jacket up. The gold jacket guys were friends with John Lynches and Tom Brady's. They weren't then coming out right they put that working Andrew Whitworth, Okay, you could turn into that Lane Johnson. You could turn into that guy. It's never too late to do that. So really, man, understand whatever it is you're doing, whatever you're passionate about in life, turn it into a fucking fight and outwork that person every hour of every second of every hour of every day of the week.
Make it your passion. As Andrew said, fall in love with it.
It's your other relationship before I let you go, tell me now that you started coaching guys, tell people out there kind of some of the stuff that you like to key in for them. Again, for our stuff, we work on your hips, work on your hands, work in your hand violence, and work on your your mentality. A lot of that between the years, stuff that that fighteror mindset. Tellbody out there, the stuff that you've been able to improve over the years that you can outpass these guys.
Yeah, I think for me, it's it's really creating a space where you know when I when I came up with the concept of building the village, Uh, you know, it's about creating something that I felt like. Man, all right, how can combined all the things that I felt like went into who I became and and what I was able to accomplish in my career. Uh And and see also people have impact with how are all the different ways that I trained and the things I dabbled in Because a lot of people who don't know my history, like I from my entire career, I never really stayed that consistent with the exact plan of how I was going to train. I loved to dabble and find. I was I always said I was on this search and I was gonna find what is the best optimal way to train my body and get prepared. I mean I've done everything from crosspit crosspit to heavy power lifting to you know. I I one year I went into like swimming. I thought like, all right, I'm gonna take pressure off my body, like I'm gonna learn how to swim like an Olympic swimmer.
Like.
So I hired a swim coach and I try at a swimming pool gym in Louisiana Tech. And you know, I've done everything from MMA, all the hit training. I've been to facilities and trained. I've done everything you can really think of from that aspect. I mean I used to hike mountains and backpack and rock and everything else. So I said, hey, how can I combine a lot of the knowledge and things that I've gotten from all those things and say, all right, anybody that walks in this door, I can help them. I don't care if they're a skill player, a lineman, doesn't matter, a quarterback. I can help them on their journey because I've tried a little bit of it all. And then obviously Ryan Sorenson's a really special trainer. He's one of the best I've ever been around in a one on one setting, and so I was like, man, this is a no brainer. I'm gonna help Ryan with his knowledge of what he already knows. We're gonna put together a lot of thoughts we have and people who want to come out here and live in a world of whether it's one on one or a smaller group type training setting, and really get that holistic approach, like you know, the infrared SNAs, the workouts, the walks, the training, all the things it takes that I think is from the head, the brain to the heart to what you do the specifics of how exactly your body moves and the best optimal way to take care of yourself. I think some places may stress your conditioning, some places may stress your strength.
To me strength, mobility, conditioning.
None of them gain if we don't all gain, And so we're chasing how do we find this balance? Because I think that's in life, whether we're talking about in a weight room or not, We're all looking for a balance, Like what's that blend that's our blend for being happy and finding our spot. I'm trying to help people's bodies find that blend. What is that perfect cocktail mixture.
That puts you that's the thing you give.
Also, yeah, if you're go to us man and learn the answers to the test, what I mean is we'll learn how to watch film from him.
We'll learn from technique. You know.
Again, I'm I know more than ninety nine p nine nine percent about football, but I'll never know more than him or my friends.
How he longs there Michael Strahan's I was sitting with these guys.
They're watching film and they're looking at the littlest fucking things and they're like, oh, this guy's foot when it's you know, third and two and his foot is out.
And beats a draw. I'm like, how fuck do you see that?
They can teach you that, And actually I learned it early, and I started having you guys try and teach the fighters that because fighters were watching film.
Besides, Coatore is the first guy to do it.
So it was kind of mixed like, Hey, we're gonna teach you the fighter mind, you'll teach us this sport. I Q, so go learn from this man how to watch film. You will get the answers to the test.
Yeah, you know, I think it colds.
I give you all the answers to the test.
Yeah.
Just last year, man, we you know, we had Paris Johnson come in the left tackle for the Arizona Cardinals and who just had a great year, and you know, he comes to us with me and Ryan and it's like, hey, man, you know there's some pattern things in your body, how you're moving, and little things that like we got to fix. And so it started with changing his body and then that led to how he's moving and how he get those hips rolling and all all those type things. Because you're doing some things that are going to lead to problems for you and we can see it, but let's fix it. And now he has, you know, a year where he's healthy and he plays well, and then it turn that turns into hey, let's go do some drills and let's talk about stuff, and those kind of things start coming out. I never forgetting and be like, WHOA, I have worked with people and I took him to dinner. He's like, I've worked with people, I've trained with everybody. I've chased all these things, and in two days with you, I've learned more than I think I've learned my entire time. I've been chased all this for all these years. He's like just these little things that I just didn't even know, and that was just so a rewarding, cool opportunity. And that's the kind of stuff I'm into. Man, it ain't about my benefit in it. It's about, man, how can I help somebody else reach this goal they have Because the game of football has changed my life significantly. It has made this awesome impact on my kids, my wife, all of us have a better experience in life because of what it's done for me. I just want to see other people have that same opportunity, and that would be a freaking cool reward, Like I said, a life of significance, to be able to make an impact on somebody where they feel like, man, you know you helped me get to where I want to go than like meet for me, that's the greatest impact I can have.
I'm right there with you, and I think it's probably well, we're brothers. I've been doing this is two thousand and seven. Jared Allen's the first guy trained at MMA and went from there to Patrick Willis and Brian Cushing and then.
Well I can thank you because my kids love that. I have literally just bone scars of tissue you on both forearms about years from years of people shopping is off. So uh yeah, I have some nice, good little bumps and my forearm bones. So I appreciate it.
Jay, Oh hey, things like that. That's what I'm talking about.
And we're at the Pro Bowl one year and Joe Stelley goes, hey, dude, fuck you.
I'm like, what what?
He goes fucking claim Matthews, damn there broke my arm in a fucking game, the NFC Championship game. I'm like, oh, I've never been more proud of it guy in my life. I'm so happy because you use that hammerfist.
We talked. But my point here is I've never gotten paid for all this stuff.
We take money, but I've given it to my fighters, I've given it to my coach, I've given him my trainers. I just love to change people's lives, their kids' lives, their grand kids' lives. That's what it's been about for me, and that's what it's like for a guy like make sure whoever you're gonna get coaching you. That's what it's about. It's about making you break. It's the selflessness when you're.
A coach man.
There is nothing like seeing your teammates succeed, and I do that and everything in life. Man, it's like loyalty is a dying art and I am for Anyone is kind of wondering, like, why why is he talking about the village.
I actually sold them Breakable to my coaches, which is really cool. I got to pass it on to them.
With the fires and everything that happened here in Malibu, I couldn't drive it to West Hollywood anymore. Man, it takes two and a half hours now, so I said it's time to just pass it on, which is great.
I'm happy out here in Malibu.
And luckily brother Win opened a place about ten minutes from my house. I'm like, great, we'll just start doing it over there. So it's the village again. Reach out to him, reach out to me. What's the village on Instagram?
Yeah, it's the village atg on Instagram.
Before I let you go, one last ning, I then we started this normally. I asked so many to give me their breakable moment, and you already did it because you're on the show.
But I had one today, hung this weekend, and we said we.
Started with mental health, I'll finished with mental health, and this one you're supposed to do.
And this weekend broke me, you know. But no, it didn't break me.
It fucking beat me down a lot, and to the point where I was saying, it's some really really really really dark stuff and normally don't come out of my mouth about not being wanted to be alive and things like that.
And you know, I would.
Never I promised you, and I promise everybody else I would never take that route because it's selfish. I'm not going to do it. He just kind of I just got one of those really bad ditches where man, you're just hoping you just don't wake up. And it used to happen a lot more until I started talking about mental health and happens less now.
So when it happens now, maybe it's a little bit more.
Stagtering to me because I have these rituals that Wit and I are talking about, finding these rituals, finding your finding those things, and when I kind of get out of them and for whatever reason, and I don't. I just signed up for this ship in the first place, so I know, what's gonna happen. But I made a promise to Wit and Michael Phelps when I get like this, I'll reach out.
I'll hold myself accountable.
And I did and it's great because I have brothers that I was able to reach out to and even doing this this pocket. You know, here's the thing to a guy with mental health. I'll never take a fucking day off from it because I'm not gonna let it win. I don't do that ship. I'll fight you, I'll make it hard. I ain't gonna do that shit. So that's the truth of it. But I want to finish on that because I want people to know, you know, what these brotherhoods do, and that you make a promise to someone, you got to keep that promise.
I appreciate you, man, and it's still.
Going through, but you uh, probably at least fifty percent better from just coming on doing this ship and talking to you earlier and being able to unpack it.
You know.
Yeah, I appreciate you, brother, you know, I love you, and uh, you know that's like I said, that's that's the difference to me when we talk about just chasing many mental health and then finding being mental wealth mentally wealthy.
And and you know what, Jay, like, you're.
Gonna have these moments because that's how we're wired. We didn't sign up for it anyways. And you know, you and I have shared over the years times like that when they happen, and and for me a lot of the times. You know, there's certain things that triggered over times and sometimes we know it's coming, sometimes we don't.
Uh.
But becoming mentally wealthy is being able to have these moments that we've created, uh, like this where we got a brother to share it with and we've got somebody that we can be accountable to. And that's that's being mentally wealthy is that you now have a much bigger team.
Uh.
You've done an awesome job of creating those things. So when I talk about life of signific against man, the impact that you've made on multiple people and a massive amount of people through your book, through this podcast, through.
Everything else, you are mentally wealthy. Brother.
So man, you are needed, You are significant, And that's what you got to know about yourself. You know, I love you, But we all have them, man, And you know it's one of the reasons I stay so active and work out so much is because you know, I'll go back to you know those things, those those crazy roommates will start telling me things that happened twenty years ago or fifteen years ago, ten years ago and beat me up about it, you know, and then I'm like wait, you know, like no, no, no, no, like go do something, get that out of your system, let it go. And we all got to find what it is that makes us mentally wealthy. And friends like you man definitely helped me do that. And I hope you realize how significant and you know how many, how big your mental wealth is, Man, that you've created with this podcast.
You've got a lot of people that look up to you every single day for the example you lay for.
That's why it's my obligation to talk about it. When it's like this, By the way, you can hear it to you my voice. It's just, man, it's kicked my ass this weekend and it happened. We were at Nobu Malibu, middle of it afternoon and happened the greatest day and then.
Fucking sky just fell on me.
Been laid kind of lifeless ever since, trying to fight it through and trying to get myself going. Yesterday but again, you it's my obligation a to stay alive, because that's that's it. Like there's I'm not not that that's it. And I got to use my pain to help others through theirs. Yeah, so next time you hear me, I'm sure I'll be a lot peppier and lively or I fucking pulled it off today regardless. But this is also like twenty one listening out there, like these are the conversations you need to have. You heard Andrew's reaction to me. He didn't fucking call me a plus, he didn't fucking tell me suck it up. He didn't do any of that shit right, And that's why you gotta lean into your teammates.
So, brother, I love you. I appreciate it.
I'd only do that if you put your hands on your hips. Okay, that didn't happen to him, Wed.
I appreciate you, man, I love you, Boddy, I love you, brother.
Appreciate it for this weekend, for life, Yes, sir,
