The B.rad Podcast

Martin is the retired CEO of Interwoven, Inc. and all around peak performer striving to balance his natural competitive intensity with an evolved perspective. At Interwoven, Martin presided over a classic dotcom startup sensation, taking the web content management software company from the basement to a successful public offering at breakneck speed, riding the wave to a $6 billion valuation at one point, and then having to abruptly shift gears to weather the economic collapse and keep the entity thriving. Interwoven was later acquired by a larger enterprise and technically still exists today—probably a one in 100 success story in the world of high flying software startups. Martin is an understated guy quick to bestow credit to others. He avoids the spotlight and the silly excess consumption seen with many of his ilk. Only with coaxing from me did he dispense some of his fabulous leadership and peak performance insights that can help you understand how he got to the top of the most competitive economic environment on the planet by being kind, generous, open-minded, and leading a healthy, fit, and balanced lifestyle. You’ll hear how Martin worked his way through college, reached for and thrived in jobs that were above his qualifications, and managed the disparate challenges of growing Interwoven at record pace and then quickly having to tighten the reins and get lean ‘n mean. While Martin followed the classic script of striking Silicon Valley gold and retiring to the top of the hill before reaching 50, the story takes some surprising twists and turns toward the end. As he (literally) sailed off into the sunset, Martin relates how his competitive drive got the better of him and led to disillusionment in the face of a great competitive victory. He was compelled to slow down, get off his boat, get over himself, and reflect more carefully on what it means to win in whatever game of life you are playing. Martin may suggest that he is “old news” in the age of Facebook and Google tech hotshots, but his valuable insights may get you to think differently about your role as a leader, your career aspirations, and constantly assessing and reassessing your priorities. There are so many cool tidbits in this show, including how Lance Armstrong himself (at the height of his fame in pre-scandal Tour de France legend mode), was “intimidated” when he first met Martin, how Martin likes to hire people with an “owner, not renter” mentality, the mandatory best practices and stratification for email, telephone/voicemail, and in-person communications in the workplace, how young aspirants might best put some time in with bigger operations and avoid startup fever, how we best pace ourselves instead of romanticizing workaholism. “Be suspicious of heroism,” Martin says. Enjoy this show and pull down some memorable insights to be the best you can be in all of your competitive pursuits.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to part two breather show; Long Cuts to a Longer Life. Getting your diet and exercise routine dialed is certainly an essential entry point to leading a long, healthy, happy life. But it’s only a portion of the big picture. Sleep is arguably more important than any other lifestyle practice, because if its compromised than other bets are off. In hectic, high-tech modern life, our stress management skills are in higher demand than any other time in the history of humanity. Finally, relationships are what make the world go round, but we often neglect them in favor of tangible objectives like filling our plate with healthy food, filling our logbook with impressive workouts, and filling our bank account with money. With sleep, the biggest objective is to minimize artificial light and digital stimulation after dark. This interferes with your circadian rhythm where you are programmed to slow down, wind down, release melatonin and get sleepy in the hours after dark. It’s also important to create a quiet, cool, clutter free, dark sleeping environment. With stress management, our main objective today is to manage our use of technology so it doesn’t overwhelm our lives. Give your off button a good workout every single day, your health depends on it. Suffering from FOMO—Fear Of Missing Out? Don’t worry, you’re not that important (unless you’re my sister delivering babies at night, then you can leave your phone on. Otherwise, power down!)Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Greenfield is gonna rock your world. No one, and I mean no one, is out as far on the cutting edge as this guy! Ben’s deep deep immersion into bio-hacking, peak performance, and health optimization is enough to make your head spin. At times, he may seem over the top to the average citizen trying to cover the basic health objectives and then get enough sleep, but those who follow Greenfield quickly come to understand that the trail he is blazing is for not just our education, but also amusement and inspiration. He is like the George Plimpton of bio-hacking, submitting his body to science for our edification. Get a load of his bio to get you in the proper frame of mind for the show: “Ben is a biohacker, human body and brain performance coach, ex-bodybuilder, Ironman triathlete, professional Spartan athlete, anti-aging consultant, speaker and author of the New York Times Bestseller, Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life. Ben is an extremely knowledgeable and serious scholar of health science, but I really love his lighthearted side where he makes goofball selfie videos and gives his followers unfiltered access to the way he and his family life daily life. He touts so many cutting edge products and strategies you are going to want to pick and choose stuff to try out, but if nothing else, Ben will get you thinking and reflecting about how close to your personal A game you are getting each day—especially because today, we are leading lives of unprecedented ease, luxury, and convenience. Of course, there are all kinds of disastrous consequences to leading our soft modern lives, and sometimes we forget about simple, fun changes you can make to optimize your daily routine. Take some notes about the amazingly adventurous and productive typical day of Ben’s, and you will get pumped up to tackle new challenges. Enjoy some more background about Ben, and check out his blog and podcast at BenGreenfieldFitness.com. He has recently started a grand endeavor called GetKion.com that features his custom designed nutritional and health products. In 2008, Ben was voted as NSCA’s Personal Trainer of the year, in 2013 and 2014 was named by Greatist as one of the top 100 Most Influential People In Health And Fitness, and Ben's articles, podcast and videos reach over a million unique views each month. Ben resides in Spokane, WA with his wife and twin boys. With nearly two decades of experience working as a strength and conditioning coach, exercise physiologist and biomechanist, Ben is also the man responsible for maximizing performance, recovery, fat loss, digestion, brain, sleep and hormone optimization for CEO’s, ultra-endurance competitors, and a wide variety of professional athletes, including poker champions, tennis players, motocross competitors, the NFL, the NHL, the UFC and beyond. Using his vast knowledge of science and research, in-the-trenches experience, and unique set of cutting-edge brain and body biohacking techniques, Ben cuts through the clutter, confusion and snake oil and instead delivers total human optimization in the fastest, cleanest and safest way possible. Let’s roll!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you tired of hearing the terms “hacks” and “shortcuts” when it comes to healthy living? So am I! Leading a healthy, balanced life is inherently enjoyable. Sometimes the best things in life take extra time. For example, preparing a fresh, home cooked meal. These Longcuts are related to diet and exercise. These tips are simple, common sense and easy to implement into daily life. Eat only clean, colorful, nutritious foods. Ditch toxic modern foods like sugars, grains and refined vegetable oils. Make mealtimes calm, relaxed, and unhurried. Eat in a maximum window of 12 hours (e.g. 8am to 8pm). Strive to ditch carb dependency and trend toward becoming fat- and keto-adapted. With exercise, it seems like increasing general everyday movement is becoming the number one priority, arguably more important that actual workouts! Honor the Primal Blueprint philosophy of moving frequently at a slow pace, lifting heavy things, and sprinting once in a while. Brief, intense workouts optimize hormones and stimulate fitness improvement. It’s critical to avoid anything resembling a chronic exercise pattern. This is a huge and common mistake for everyone from elite athletes and novices. Also realize that the harder you train, the harder you have to recover. Stay tuned for an important Part 2 of Longcuts, relating to sleep, stress management and relationships.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelly is one of the great thought leaders on the planet earth. In person, he is the funniest and most dynamic presenter you will ever see. When he wowed guests at our PrimalCon retreats, he had people alternatively in stitches and absolutely captivated by his breakthrough approach to mobility, flexibility, and correct human functional movement for all activities. Kelly, aka K-Starr, is a physical therapist, former elite level whitewater kayak athlete, proprietor of San Francisco CrossFit, creator of the popular MobilityWOD.com website, and author of Becoming a Supple Leopard—perhaps the most comprehensive volume on mobility, flexibility, functionality, healing and prevention for athletic folks ever in the history of the world. Visit MobilityWOD.com to get a free 10-day dose of Kelly and his highly engaging, informal, and humorous style with which he conveys his unique and effective approach.   Via his books and MobilityWOD videos, you can get everything you need to heal lifelong injuries and dysfunction quickly, and improve your performance dramatically by optimizing technique and minimizing injury risk. Kelly has basically created an entire new language and colorful vocabulary relating to warm up, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and improving fitness technique and general function. Terminology like “flossing,” “bashing,” “tacking,” and “mobilizing” relate to creative use of implements like foam rollers, golf balls, long rubber “voodoo floss” straps, and (his favorite) lacrosse balls in an aggressive and focused manner to increase blood flow, improve range of motion, and facilitate healing in muscles and connective tissue. Once your mobility improves, you then have a fighting chance at exhibiting correct functional movement during exercise and daily life (e.g., running with a balanced center of gravity over your feet and an efficient dorsiflexion of the foot on each stride), such that you won’t be doomed to a lifetime of repeating injuries, both acute and overuse.  While Kelly was classically trained as a doctor of physical therapy, but this stuff is leaps and bounds beyond anything you’ve seen before. If you standing at the cutting edge of fitness and performance, you will bump into Kelly for sure. I relate on the podcast intro the single sentence he uttered to me on a phone call that helped me cure my long-starting and treatment resistance case of tennis elbow (tennis elbow caused by excessive golf!).   If you search your podcast app for Kelly Starrett, you will get an abundance of content options for Kelly going off on his area of expertise. Tune into one of the shows and get a megadose of awesome. What’s great about our conversation is I wound this man up in the back room of SF Crossfit and he went off on a beautiful theme of simplicity and simple strategy to live a healthy, balanced life. We get so wrapped up in the details and sophistication of modern health practices that we forget how tech addiction and unconscious lazy habits can trash the best laid plans and the most motivated Type A peak performers.   Kelly’s show will trip you out and will inspire you to relax, slow down, take a baby step in the right direction each day, and make some simple changes to daily habits that will make success and compliance easier and easier.   Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After my interview with LA Chargers defensive end and all-around thoughtful guy Isaac Rochell, we keep talking about how college and pro sports can improve the way they conduct business and treat athletes. I propose numerous innovations I would make as a professional team owner, such as giving each player a free driver, chef, bodyguard and massage therapist. After all, these guys are each multimillion-dollar economic entities individually, so they should be cared for as such by the team. On the flip side, Isaac explains the importance of athletes investing in their own health and well being—not just to sustain a productive career for as long as possible, but also to support long-term health after retirement.   Isaac then hangs up the phone to go make a healthy meal and do some yoga, and I go off further on the topic of fixing pro sports. First (sorry Isaac), we probably should phase out tackle football and replace it with soccer. Football is a magnificent athletic spectacle, and a tremendous growth experience for players working hard to contribute to a team effort. I also think the players are pushed too hard to play too many games. This is driven by money and disregarding player health and longevity. Recall a few years back how coach Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs stood up to the ridiculousness of the NBA schedule by benching star players who weren’t injured. This is against the rules, drew a big fine to the Spurs, and the coach said “whatever” because he wants to win in the playoffs.   You’ll be shocked at the crazy reason why NBA teams fly their private jets all night, trashing the players’ sleep cycles. And the disparate types of NBA athletes—some incredibly committed to training/recovery/healthy living (aka Kobe Bryant and LeBron James), some pretty much there, and some pretty much just coasting along on talent and blowing lots of Benjamin’s leading the high life. Are you one of those people who think athletes are paid too much? Think again, as we learn some free market realities from economics 101. I share the top-secret sage advice that I dispensed to Lance Armstrong that was brilliant at the time, but came back to bite him in the bust and cost big legal fees years later.   Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Los Angeles Charger defensive end Isaac Rochell is a second year player out of Notre Dame. He has an incredibly empowering and evolved mindset for such a young athlete; unlike many in the athletic scene, he seems to have gotten over himself! Isaac describes how he transformed his body and his mindset by diving into the ketogenic diet in preparation for the NFL draft. In five months, he went from 23% body fat to 16%, and was selected in the third round of the NFL draft by the LA Chargers. Isaac talks about his development as a young athlete and how he ended up at Notre Dame (“my mom made me visit, and I fell in love with the place, especially the tradition”), his emphasis on getting a degree (I wasn’t going all the way to cold South Bend and not finish with a degree…NCAA athletes in revenue sports may be exploited, but the athletes have to understand that they need to exploit that opportunity for a free education!”).   After surviving the dreaded 53-man cut at training camp, Isaac details the first true adversity he experienced as an athlete—being relegated to the practice squad early in the season. While many young athletes coming from the stardom of high school and college might make complaints and excuses, Isaac explains that, “I was definitely frustrated, but you have to self-evaluate in these situations.” This empowering mindset and work ethic were Isaac’s most lauded attributes by the NFL scouts. Asked how he made it all the way to the highest level of sport, Isaac relates: “Step one is just showing up, and then working hard when you get there.” Simple as that!  Isaac also talks about how the focus and discipline he applied to his ketogenic diet and physique transformation delivered benefits in many other areas of his life. In particular, it gave him a sense of control in a world where team sport professional athletes don’t have much control over their days or their destinies. Today his prominent dietary goal is to reduce inflammation, and he follows a plant-based, nutrient-dense diet that avoids sugar and dairy and emphasizes plants as well as fish and eggs. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I cover tips and research from various sources, including an excellent show with neuroscientist Dr. Matthew Walker of UC Berkeley on the Joe Rogan podcast. Walker hits us hard with some amazing stats about increased dysfunction and accident risk when you skimp on sleep. The function of over 700 genes are distorted when you skimp on sleep to the tune of six hours a night for a week. Walker says we all need 7-8 hours, countering a common assertion that a certain select few of us can function well as short sleepers. Walker also mentions how you can kiss your fat loss goals goodbye if your sleep is less than optimum. In short, you stimulate appetite hormones and mess up fat metabolism when you blast your eyeballs with artificial light and digital stimulation after dark.   I mention a Scientific American article from Dr. Tafti about sleeping more efficiently. One sign is that you have more intense dreams. Dang! That never happens to me! I talk about a recent show on Dr. Peter Attia awesome podcast, The Drive. He mentions a study from Eve Van Counter talking about how easy it is to become measurably insulin resistant due to sleep deprivation. I discuss a great article in Paleo Magazine that describes how sleep benefits to the brain (literally detoxing waste products from brain cells), and also provides a ton of practical tips to improve your sleep habits. Among then, getting direct sun exposure in the morning, having dark, quiet, calm evening ritual, keeping a simple, Spartan bedroom used for only two activities—definitely no screens! Finally, I talk about some of my favorite tips, like switching to vintage light bulbs with orange hue instead of the traditional white bulbs that blast you with the blue light spectrum that can harm your hormonal function in the evenings. Ditto for orange lenses, candlelight, salt lamps, and general using minimal light in the evenings. Enjoy the show and get motivated to bring your A game to the challenge of sleep! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I visit with my old friend Dave Kobrine (whom I have known for a long time, too!) to discuss his remarkable athletic journey, lifelong commitment to fitness, the amazing athletic exploits of the Kobrine family, and how to nurture two kids to become national-caliber high school athletes in two sports and NCAA Division I scholarship volleyball players for UCLA (hint: don’t do much, let them explore their passions naturally.)   Dave is an understated guy and you won’t pull much down if you Google him, but his morning routine will inspire the most hardcore peak performer. Up at 6 AM and into some gentle basic movements and calisthenics. Then it’s time for a 24-ounce water with lemon and salt. Then into the chest freezer cold plunge for a 3-4 minutes at 36-40F, then preparing a nutritious smoothie for consumption later that day (Dave usually fasts till noon or beyond. He was sharp for this late afternoon show despite not eating all day!) Then it’s off on a gentle aerobic run of two miles, mainly for the “sun and air”. Then it’s off to the gym for a 20-minute sauna and cold shower. At this point, he feels fantastically ready for a busy day at the office, where he runs an actuarial consulting firm with his hard working brothers. That’s just his morning “habit.” His actual workouts, like evening strength sessions in the gym (heavy lifting and mobility stuff), along with endurance runs and faster runs are thrown into the mix as well.   Many Kobrine’s get a cameo, including my high school teammate Dr. Steven, who does running vacations of 100 miles in a week (including a double Grand Canyon crossing where he fried his beloved Apple AirPods with excessive sweating); mysterious brother Rob as the “maybe the family’s best all-around athlete;” father Ron who ran 30 consecutive Boston marathons, many under 3 hours despite starting the streak in his 40s and carrying on into his 70s (read more in the last chapter of Primal Endurance); brother Eric who is carrying the Boston torch with 23 consecutive finishes and counting; and sister Joni the queen of hot yoga.   Modesty aside, know this about Dave: At Los Angeles Taft High School, his team was runner-up in the LA city championships, played in front of 10,000 fans at UCLA Pauley Pavilion. In the quarterfinal qualification game for the big dance, his favored Taft team was down big with time running out. On his home court, Dave went on an epic binge, scoring 7 points in 10 seconds (bucket; steal off the dribble for dunk; steal inbounds for a basket and free throw). He blew the roof off that high school gym! I remember it as one of the greatest athletic spectacles I’ve ever seen in person, next to Seb Coe winning the Olympic 1500 meters in 1984 LA Games, and the LA Kings Miracle on Manchester in 1982.   As a UCLA sophomore, Dave bravely knocked on coach Larry Brown’s door and informed him he was ready for varsity basketball after a stellar season on the UCLA JV team. From there, this decent high school guard of 6’2” found himself on the practice court daily with the number-one ranked team in the nation, including seven future NBA players. Dave remembers, “I was the 13th man on a 12-man team…” But still! After a season with the Bruins and some cameo appearances on the hallowed Pauley Pavillion court where he watched the Bruin dynasty throughout his childhood, he realized that his basketball career had reached a pinnacle. After watching the epic 1982 Hawaii Ironman broadcast with the crawling Julie Moss crawling across the finish line, Dave whimsically decided to redirect his athletic focus and enter the race despite zero experience. Sure enough, he completed the 1983 Hawaii Ironman World Championships as a college junior.   Dave talks about pursuing a variety of competitive goals throughout life, how his high school basketball teammates have maintained strong lifelong bonds, getting together frequently over the years for fun and games, and his relaxed approach to guiding his boys Sam (UCLA ’20) and Kevin (UCLA ’22) through the highest levels of elite youth basketball and volleyball. “I wish I’d made them read more, that’s about it,” Dave reflects. In the age of helicopter parents and overly competitive and overly accelerated youth sports, it’s refreshing to realize how little parents have to do with a kid’s success, besides being positive and encouraging at all times.  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I  start  talking  about the  life changing  insights from the  great Deepak Chopra,  and end up going off  on numerous tangents, crossing  over the Breather show barrier and  into a full length show. I mentions  the benefits of maintaining passionate competitive  goals throughout life. Of course there are periods  in life where you are totally consumed with athletics,  your heavy metal band, or building your business. These are  healthy phases to strive for your absolute potential, but when  life moves into other phases it’s essential to adjust your goals  based upon your life circumstances and your advancing age. I mention  how today, on the other side of the big 5-0, I want my athletic goals  to promote health and longevity, rather than compromise them as my professional  triathlon career most certainly did. I  cover  highlights  from a wonderful  podcast with Dr. Chopra  on the MindBodyGreen channel.  Chopra, the most peaceful of humans, manages to get in some choice digs about  the current US President. Deepak observes that  we are living in “collective insanity,” best characterized  by the fact that a “dysfunctional narcissist” is able to win  the Presidential election. Deepak speculates we are in an age of  excessive violence at all levels: from global conflicts to emotional  violence in interpersonal relationships. It’s interesting to think of violence  in this perspective, since we usually associate violence with the narrow definition  of physical violence (guns, war, police brutality, etc.) Deepak says humanity is on a  time clock to extinction if we continue at our current pace of dysfunction. However, he  sees potential if the “collective consciousness” progresses as we see signs of today (especially people who are listening to cool podcasts, you know?). Deepak mentions how he starts every day by reaffirming his “4 Daily Intentions.” This stuff is solid gold – please consider integrating it  into your consciousness. Follow Deepak on social media and check out the MindBodyGreen podcast too. Here  are Deepak’s four daily intentions: 1. Joyful Energetic Body: No toxic people, jobs, or substances. 2. Loving  Compassionate Heart: People want attention and acceptance as they are. EvenTrump, Deepak says, speculating that Trump  didn’t get that necessary attention as a kid. 3. Reflective Quiet, Alert Mind: Deepak says this is how you access intuition  and the creative flow. This is different than forcing positive thoughts, which can be merely another form of stress. 4. Lightness  of Being: Appreciate the present; no anticipation, no regrets.  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.